August 28, 2009
1. Open Recruitment of COE Research Associates (post-doctoral fellows)
As part of our program, Kumamoto University Global COE “Cell Fate Regulation Research and Education Unit” will employ young researchers as COE Research Associates. The program will foster their creative and inventive research ideas under the supervision of Global COE members as mentors, who belong to the Institute of Molecular Embryology and Genetics (IMEG) and/or Faculty of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. COE Research Associates should work in the COE Liaison Laboratory Building (completed in December 2008) next to IMEG in the Honjo campus of Kumamoto University. Young researchers will be selected based not only on their previous academic achievements but also on their research proposals. Details regarding the open recruitment are as follows:;
Number of positions
A maximum of 15 researchers
Specialty Areas
Details on the specialty areas for this recruitment are documented in Section Two below. The proposed research should be related to cell fate regulation.
Affiliation
The COE Research Associate will be affiliated to Kumamoto University Global COE “Cell Fate Regulation Research and Education Unit” (not the mentor’s laboratory). COE Research Associates m ust not be affiliated to any other institution at the same time.
Qualification Requirements — Academic Degree:
Young researchers, who have less than 10 years research experience after obtaining a PhD degree at the arrival date (see “Arrival” below for the details), will be employed after a selection process. When submitting the application, applicants who expect to receive a PhD degree should have been granted the PhD degree or have passed the screening at the final review as of April 1 st , 2010. If researchers obtained a PhD degree 10 or more years ago, they are required to submit a statement of reason with the application form. Young researchers working on Bioethics without a PhD degree have a chance to beemployed if judged to be a PhD holder equivalent, according to the standard of JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) for “JSPS Research Fellowship-PD”.
Arrival
Between April 2010 and July 2010
Period of Employment
Following the selection procedure, COE Research Associates will be em ployed until March 2012. Note that contracts will be for each fiscal year and will be renewed once a year until March 31, 2012. T he employment contract is based on Article 14 of the Labor Standards Law. Those who are not Japanese citizens should hold an appropriate visa status for the period of employment.
Salary
COE Research Asso ciates will receive approximately \4.5 million per year.
(Daily wage is \12,800. Bonuses will be given.)
Research Allowa nce, etc.
i.) A sufficient amount of research funds common to the COE Liaison Laboratory will be provided. In addition, COE Research Associates can apply for external and internal competitive research funds.
ii.) Mentors support COE Research Associates. Mentors are Global COE Program Members who will be assigned to support COE Research Associates (see Section Two).
Obligations
In addition to performing their research, COE Research Associates should (1) participate in the Global COE activities (see “Outline of the plan for establishing our Global COE” as described below), (2) submit brief reports on request, (3) present research progress on request, and (4) indicate that they are affiliated to and supported by the COE on occasions of publication and presentation.
Conditions documented here are subject to change according to rules and regulations.?
Application Documents
Use the attached application form and 11 point font size. Applicants should contact their prospective mentors, and obtain their approval and signature on the application form (see Section Two).
Application Deadline
Applications must reach Global COE Research Promotion Office by November 30, 2009.
Submission of Documents
Application documents (one original and 13 photocopies) should be sent to the following address:Global COE Research Promotion Office
c/o Mr. Takeshi Nishikawa and Ms. Akiko Yoshimoto
1F, COE Liaison Laboratory
Kumamoto University
Honjo 2-2-1
Kumamoto , 860-0811, Japan
※ Write “Application Documents (COE Research Associate) Enclosed” in red ink on the envelope and send the envelope by registered mail (or a courier service) or hand in it to the above office. Application documents will not be returned to you. If a phone number is necessary for a courier service, it is 096-373-5006.
Selection Process
Screening of documents will take place in Dec 2009. Interviews, if necessary, will be conducted.. T ravel expenses will not be covered by the COE.
Inquiries
Any inquiries should be made by e-mail to the Global COE Research Promotion Office, Kumamoto University at the following e-mail address:
g-coe2*jimu.kumamoto-u.ac.jp
(please substitute @ for *)
Please be sure to allow enough time before the application deadline for a response to be made to you. Responses will be made on business days only.
2. List of Specialty Areas and COE Program Members
Specialty area, COE Program Member’s name, specialty area, e-mail addresses (when sending a message by e-mail, substitute @ for *), URL:
Specialty area (1): Pancreatic development
Shoen Kume , Professor, COE Program Member
skume*kumamoto-u.ac.jp
http://www.imeg.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/bunya_top/stem_cell_biology/
Specialty area (2): Epigenetics, Nuclear remodeling, Metabolism, Cancer development
Mitsuyoshi Nakao , Professor, COE Program Member
mnakao*gpo.kumamoto-u.ac.jp
http://www.imeg.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/bunya_top/medical_cell_biology/
Specialty area (3): Hematopoiesis, Vascular development
Minetaro Ogawa , Professor, COE Program Member
ogawamin*kumamoto-u.ac.jp
http://www.imeg.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/bunya_top/cell_differentiation/
Specialty area: Developmental genetics, Mouse mutagenesis, Human disease model
Ken-ichi Yamamura , Professor, COE Program Member
yamamura*gpo.kumamoto-u.ac.jp
http://www.imeg.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/divisions/Developmental_Genetics/index.html
Specialty area (5): Kidney development and regeneration
Ryuichi Nishinakamura , Professor, COE Program Member
ryuichi*gpo.kumamoto-u.ac.jp
http://www.imeg.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/divisions/Integrative_Cell_Biology/index.html?
Specialty area (6): AAA family proteins and human genetic diseases
Teru Ogura , Professor, COE Program Member
ogura*kumamoto-u.ac.jp
http://irda-genetics.kuma-u.jp/en/
Specialty area (7): Developmental biology, Urogenital/reproductive organ formation, Growth factor signaling, Reproduction
Gen Yamada , Professor, COE Program Member
gensan*gpo.kumamoto-u.ac.jp
http://www.imeg.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/divisions/Organ_Formation/index.html
Specialty area (8): Molecular and cellular biology
Hirofumi Kai , Professor, COE Program Member
hirokai*gpo.kumamoto-u.ac.jp
http://www.medphas.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/faculty/departments/58.html?
Specialty area (9): Developmental neurobiology
Hideaki Tanaka , Professor, COE Program Member
hitanaka*gpo.kumamoto-u.ac.jp
http://www.medphas.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/faculty/departments/41.html?
Specialty area (10): Clinical genetics
Fumio Endo , Professor, COE Program Member
fendo*kumamoto-u.ac.jp
http://www.medphas.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/faculty/departments/49.html
Specialty area (11): Ocular development
Hidenobu Tanihara , Professor, COE Program Member
tanihara*pearl.ocn.ne.jp
http://www.medphas.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/faculty/departments/16.html
Specialty area (12): Bioethics
Atsushi Asai , Professor, COE Program Member
aasai*kumamoto-u.ac.jp
http://www.medphas.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/faculty/departments/68.html
Information on our institutions is available at the following URLs
http://www.imeg.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/
http://card.medic.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/card/english/index.html
http://www.pharm.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/phagrad/en/
http://www.medphas.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/medgrad/index.html
http://www.medphas.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/en/faculty/index.html
3. About the “Global COE” program
The “Global COE (Centers of Excellence) program” was launched as a new initiative by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in fiscal year 2007. The program provides funding support for establishing education and research centers that perform at the apex of global excellence to elevate the international competitiveness of the Japanese universities. The program will strengthen and enhance the education and research functions of graduate schools, in order to foster highly creative young researchers who will go on to become world leaders in their respective fields. This will be achieved through experiencing and practicing world class standard research. Kumamoto University proposed a five-year program entitled “Cell Fate Regulation Research and Education Unit” and this was selected as one of the first 13 programs in Japan in the field of life sciences.
4. Outline of the plan for establishing our Global COE
Our program aims to promote research on cell fate regulation, which is a fundamental process governing organogenesis. More importantly, this program also aims to encourage young scientists in a wide variety of research fields related to cell fate regulation by providing an interactive and interdisciplinary research environment in our newly established system, the COE Liaison Laboratory. The COE Liaison Laboratory provides space for experiments, opportunities for scientific meetings, chances for obtaining research grants, all of which will help young scientists become more creative. The planned specific activities include the following:?
COE Liaison Laboratory regular seminars (every Wednesday, from noon to 1 pm)
COE Liaison Laboratory summer retreat seminars
COE international symposia
Employment of Japanese and non-Japanese young scientists
Support for young scientists’ research proposals
Exchange of young scientists
Support for young scientists’ publications and presentations
