Greetings

To survive global, intense collegiate competition, it is important to recruit outstanding students and researchers from across the globe, develop these human resources, produce research results, and disseminate them worldwide. With the objective of fulling its mission and meeting needs in its capacity as a national university corporation, Osaka University established the Institute for Academic Initiatives. In December 2012, the Division of Innovative Research for Drug Development, the precursor of the Drug Discovery Science Division, was established. As stated in the prospectus, it is critically important for Osaka University to work as one on drug discovery, “With a place where researchers who are involved in drug discovery gather from all divisions of Osaka University and share research equipment and know-how, it is expected that Osaka University will serve as one of the world’s top hubs for the promotion of drug discovery science.” We have been endeavoring for the past 4 years to develop the necessary environments. Embodying this spirit, in April 2017, our organization was renamed as the Drug Discovery Science Division, the Institute for Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives. Taking advantage of this opportunity, we will continue to play a supportive role as we did in the past, while taking leadership in promoting several projects to bring achievements to Osaka University and back to the society.

Your cooperation and support are highly appreciated because we promote fundamental research and technologies for drug discovery and realize the goal of Osaka University-initiated drug discovery.

April 2017