US-Japan Collaborative Research Activities in the Biomedical Science

From a view point of a Japanese researcher working in the United States

Abstract

Recently, multi-disciplinary approach and collaboration between individual laboratories have been becoming increasingly important in the biomedical research field. This trend is supposedly related to the recent technological advancements and the emerging important roles of bioengineering, bioinformatics and biophysics in the biomedical science. In this article, several aspects of collaboration in the United States, including various efforts to promote collaboration, and those of US-Japan international collaboration are described from a point of view of a Japanese biomedical researcher who has worked in the US over 20 years. Along with the globalization, the diplomatic value of international scientific collaboration is highly recognized by the governments of many countries, including US and Japan. On the other hand, the visibility of Japanese contributions to the global biomedical science appears to be relatively decreasing these years. Moreover, possible unintended consequences of increased connectivity in the global research community and peer-review system are also discussed.