Common Research Facilities

The Radioisotope (RI) Laboratory is located adjacent to the main building of the institute and covers 403 sq.m. It was founded in 1967, and was extended by branch laboratories with a combined space of about 600 sq. m. during the establishment of the North building in 1979 and of the Central Laboratory for Biological Hazardous Microbes in 1983. In 1998, a radiation exposure room was established on the first basement level of the South building. The Genome Information Research Center radioisotope laboratory joined in 2007. At present, the total radiation controlled area is about 1,700 square meters.
The RI Laboratory is designed for biomedical experiments with radioisotopes and plays an important role in the research institute. Its facilities include an RI stockroom, a distribution room, a tissue culture room, and an area for RI- measuring equipment. Safety requirements are met by a stringent security system that involves the use of ID cards and computerized management of radioisotopes. About 200 researchers use the RI laboratory every year.

This laboratory was established around the late 1950’s. Since then, it has grown to possess a variety of high-performance instruments, including ultracentrifuges, electron microscopes, a laser microdissection system, cell sorters, automatic plasmid purification systems, DNA sequencers, and a mass spectrum analyzer. This laboratory also provides a room installed with large liquid nitrogen tanks for the preservation of living materials such as cells and viruses, and a room for treating specified injurious chemicals. Several technicians are employed to keep the instruments in proper working condition as well as to provide advice to beginners and ongoing support for researchers. In addition, they execute cell sorting, nucleotide sequencing, observation by electron microscope, and mass spectrometric analyses on samples upon request from Institute researchers. These kinds of services will become more and more important in the future since many instruments are becoming increasingly precise and complicated and require extensive training. Plans to accommodate such changes are currently in progress.

This laboratory was set up in 1983 to ensure the safe handling of biologically hazardous microbes such as the HFRS (hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome) virus. Since then, all experimental studies using such microbes, including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), have been carried out in this laboratory. The laboratory is a 3-story building that is 550 sq. m. in area. The first floor is reserved for experiments using radioisotopes. The facilities are designed to protect researchers from getting infected with pathogens and to prevent the spread of biohazardous pathogens outside the building.
The supply of fresh air is regulated to keep room interiors at negative pressure. Air is released from the facility through high-quality outlet filters to minimize contamination of the outside environment. Furthermore, each room is equipped with safety cabinets and autoclaves for the sterilization of used materials before their disposal. The entire laboratory has been renovated from 2005 to 2007 to increase numbers of pathogens simultaneously used in this laboratory.

In 2008 and 2009, 64 and 66 researchers, respectively, were approved by the Biosafety Committee to use this laboratory. The microbes used included HIV, human and avian influenza viruses, SARS corona virus, and scrapie agent.

The RIMD library collects academic books and journals on microbiology and immunology, as well as work on related scientific fields such as cell biology, genetics, histology, developmental biology, biochemistry, pharmacology pathology, microbiology and oncology. In particular, we have collected rare books on parasitology that cannot be found at other institutes. These books are frequently accessed by visitors to the RIMD library. Due to the construction of a new building for the Integrated Life Science Building, the RIMD library was moved to a temporary library room set up on the 1st floor of the south building of RIMD on December 2007. At June 2010, the RIMD library was moved to a new space located at the 1st floor of the new RIMD main building. Since the temporary library space was quite small, we were forced to discard most of the old books and journals. For this reason, we now only hold journals published after 1991, all of the back issues of Biken Journal, and 13,000 books. We now purchase 70 and 20 journals published in English and Japanese, respectively. Most of the books are kept on the bookshelves in the stock room, but textbooks and newly arrived journals are arranged on the front shelf of the bureau. Most of the materials in the RIMD library are registered on the online index at the main Library of Osaka University, which can also be accessed by libraries throughout Japan via the Inter Library Loan (ILL) system. Three librarians handle the RIMD library together with two professors, two associate professors and one assistant professor who act as members of RIMD library committee. These members also take care of the publication of the “Annual Reports of the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases Osaka University” (online only from 2003).