ASPIRE Activity Overview

 

November 12, 2026　3rd ASPIRE Joint Symposium (Healthcare Field) held

May 15, 2026　         ASPIRE Program Introduction and Research Introduction Videos Now Available

February 25, 2026　  2nd ASPIRE Joint Symposium (Healthcare Field) held

March 25, 2025　      1st ASPIRE Joint Symposium (Healthcare Field) held

June 23, 2024　        Japan–UK Engineering Biology Joint Workshop Held in London

※Please refer to the “List of Research Outcomes” for press release information published by research institutions as outcomes of ASPIRE.

September 7, 2026　Professor Katsuhiko Shirahige's Research Findings Featured on NHK News

※Please click the image below or the brochure PDF to view the brochure.
※Project overviews for the 6th Japan–Canada Joint Research and the 7th Japan–Swiss Joint Research will be available at a later date.

※Research projects with links on the project titles provide access to the overview of the Research Project
※Each photo contains a link to an individual video. Please click here to view the complete playlist of all videos.

1st Alignment Call（Adoption fiscal year : FY 2023）

Project	International Collaborative Research Pioneering Next-Generation Assisted Reproductive Medicine
Principal Investigator for Japan	IKAWA Masahito　 Osaka University, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Marisa Bartolomei , Professor , University of Pennsylvania , USA
	Martin Matzuk , Professor , Baylor College of Medicine , USA

Project	The pandemic 5W1H investigation
Principal Investigator for Japan	SATO Kei The University of Tokyo, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Anavaj Sakuntabhai , Professor , Institute Pasteur , France
	Andrea Marzi , Senior Investigator , National Institutes of Health , USA

Project	Realization of precision medicine by chromatin molecular pathology
Principal Investigator for Japan	SHIRAHIGE Katsuhiko The University of Tokyo, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Camilla Björkegren , Professor , Karolinska Institutet , Sweden

Project	International collaboration to understand physiological mechanisms of glial cells and their pathological transitions
Principal Investigator for Japan	WAKE Hiroaki　 National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Marie-Ève Tremblay , Professor , University of Victoria , Canada
	Marco Prinz , Professor , University of Freiburg , Germany
	Rosa Chiara Paolicelli , Assistant Professor , University of Lausanne , Swiss
	Anne Schaefer , Director , Max Planck Institute , Germany
	Baljit, Singh Khakh , Professor , United Kingdom Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University , UK
	Keith Murai , Professor , Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery , Canada

Project	Exploration of personal medical strategies and novel therapeutic targets based on the pathogenetic mechanisms of chronic rhinosinusitis in Japanese and US patients.
Principal Investigator for Japan	FUJIEDA Shigeharu University of Fukui, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Atsushi Kato , Professor , Northwestern University , USA

Project	Understanding the immune responses that develop against the gastric oncopathogen Helicobacter pylori and its application to immunotherapy
Principal Investigator for Japan	YAMAOKA Yoshio Oita University, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Thomas Borén , Professor , Umeå University , Sweden

2nd Japan - UK Joint Call（Adoption fiscal year : FY 2024）

Project	Axioloid-based model of human kidney developmentdisease
Principal Investigator for Japan	ALEV Cantas Kyoto University, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Jamie Davies , University of Edinburgh

Project	Creating anti-senescence cell fate by engineering the chromatin landscape
Principal Investigator for Japan	OHKAWA Yasuyuki Kyushu University, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Masashi Narita , University of Cambridge

Project	Creating anti-senescence cell fate by engineering the chromatin landscape
Principal Investigator for Japan	SHIMIZU Yoshihiro RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research,  Team Director
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Paul Beales , University of Leeds

3rd Alignment Call（Research Start : FY 2024）

Project	A Global Study Exploring Lifelong Health through the Maintenance, Promotion, and Restoration of Physical Functionality
Principal Investigator for Japan	ASAHARA Hiroshi Institute of Science Tokyo, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Martin Lotz , Professor , Scripps Research Institute , USA

Project	International Cardiovascular Digital Omics Consortium
Principal Investigator for Japan	KOMURO Issei The University of Tokyo, Project Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Michael Snyder , Professor , Stanford University , USA

Project	International and Interdisciplinary Research on Germ Cell Dynamics and Transgenerational Health Risks
Principal Investigator for Japan	YOSHIDA Shosei National Institute for Basic Biology, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Benjamin Simons , Director , University of Cambridge , UK
	Thomas Höfer , Professor , German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) , Germany

4th Japan - France Joint Call（Adoption fiscal year : FY 2025）

Project	Understanding EZH2 activities in leukemia, a potential therapeutic strategy
Principal Investigator for Japan	IWAMA Atsushi The University of Tokyo, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Estelle DUPREZ , Centre national de la recherche scientifique

Project	Uncovering the roles of lipids in the effects of FLASH radiotherapy, at the cellular and organ level, to develop new lipid-peptide treatment
Principal Investigator for Japan	SETOU Mitsutoshi Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Charles FOUILLADE , Institut Curie

Project	French-Japanese Consortium for Replication stress-induced senescence and anti-cancer immunity
Principal Investigator for Japan	DAIGAKU Yasukazu Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Project Leader
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Philippe PASERO , Université de Montpellier

5th Japan - Australia Joint Call（Adoption fiscal year : FY 2025）

Project	Mechanisms blocking the repair of mammalian hearts after injury: using AI-assisted directed evolution of novel biologics to empower regeneration
Principal Investigator for Japan	KIKUCHI Kazu National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, Director
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Robert M. Graham , The University of New South Wales

Project	CELLOGRAMRx: Pan-Cancer Cellular composition and signalling relationship mapping to identify novel therapeutic targets
Principal Investigator for Japan	SUZUKI Yutaka The University of Tokyo, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Ankur Sharma, The University of New South Wales

Project	Control of endemic HTLV-1 to prevent silent global spread
Principal Investigator for Japan	MATANO Tetsuro National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Deputy Director-General
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Damian Purcell University of Melbourne

7th Japan - Swiss Joint Call（Adoption fiscal year : FY 2025）

Project	From Sleep Dynamics to Inflammaging Control: A High-Throughput Systems Biology Initiative for Brain Aging
Principal Investigator for Japan	UEDA Hiroki The University of Tokyo, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Scheiermann, Christoph , University of Geneva

Project	Comprehensive research on inflammation and aging with a focus on the role of cGAS-STING in inflammation-inducing cells.
Principal Investigator for Japan	NAKANISHI Makoto The University of Tokyo, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Ablasser, Andrea Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)

Project	Modulating Inflammaging via Microbiome-Regulated Signaling in Hepatocytes and Kupffer Cells
Principal Investigator for Japan	HONDA Kenya Keio University, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Ho, Ping-Chih,University of Lausanne

6th Japan - Canada Joint Call（Adoption fiscal year : FY 2026）

Project	The ELDER Study: Timing cancer by tracking how tissue-specific aging shapes malignancy
Principal Investigator for Japan	YACHIDA Shinichi Osaka University, Professor
Principal Investigator for Counterpart Country	Faiyaz Notta, University Health Network