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New Research Results

Not for hearing but for symbiosis

Like us humans, insects possess sensory organs responsible for vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. For vision, insects primarily rely on compound eyes. But what about hearing? For example, crickets develop tympanal organs on their forelegs, which function like a human’s eardrum to detect sound. They use these “ears on the legs” to listen to courtship songs and sense approaching enemies.
The tympanal organs have evolved in insects repeatedly. For example, cicadas, grasshoppers, moths and mantises have tympanal ears on their abdomen or thorax. Uniquely, stinkbugs of the family Dinidoridae, encompassing around 100 species representing 16 genera in the world, have yet been reported to possess a tympanal organ specifically on the hindlegs of adult females. However, no detailed studies have been conducted on this minor group of stinkbugs. How do dinidorid females perceive male’s song or dance using their hindlegs?
To address this question, we investigated the Japanese dinidorid stinkbug Megumenum gracilicorne. Unexpectedly, we found that its so-called “tympanal organ” is not an auditory organ but instead a novel symbiotic organ.

Fungus-transfer behavior from the organ to the eggs by an ovipositing female of M. gracilicorne.

Coating vascular endothelium with amphiphilic polymers to suppress immune reactions

Researchers at AIST in collaboration with iCoat Medical AB and Uppsala University in Sweden have developed a technology to suppress ischemia-reperfusion injury occurring after kidney transplantation by coating the kidney vascular endothelium with amphiphilic polymers.
Since kidney transplantation is the only treatment enabling patients with severe kidney disease to avoid dialysis, it is crucial to make long-term engraftment of the transplanted kidney in the patient's body. We require suppressing the immune response that causes organ damage during transplantation. Here we used a coating technology based on PEG lipids—an amphiphilic polymer composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and phospholipids. In pig studies, we applied the coating technology to the surface of vascular endothelium within the kidney and demonstrated suppression of ischemia-reperfusion injury, which is one of the immune reactions occurring after kidney transplantation.
Details of these findings will be published in the American Journal of Transplantation on September 24, 2025.
Furthermore, during the course of this technical development, including the pig kidney transplantation experiments, we clarified the optimal coating conditions applicable to clinical kidney transplantation. To date, no drug has been found that can effectively suppress ischemia-reperfusion injury, which significantly reduces the graft engraftment rate in human kidney transplantation. The outcome has largely depended on the experience and technique of the transplant surgeons. The developed coating technology is expected to contribute to improving the graft survival rate of human kidney transplants, and clinical trials utilizing this technology are currently underway.

Transplantation studies using coating technology with amphiphilic polymer (PEG lipid) for the vascular endothelium in pig kidneys

Open Innovation Laboratory

Since FY 2016, as a part of the “Open Innovation Arena concept” promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), AIST has created the concept of “open innovation laboratories” (OILs), collaborative research bases located on university campuses, and has been engaged in their provision. We are planning to establish more than ten OILs by FY 2020.

AIST will merge the basic research carried out at universities, etc. with AISTʼs goal-oriented basic research and applied technology development, and will promote bridging research and evelopment and industry by the establishment of OILs.