EN/JP

Green Polymers,

Brighter Futures

Graduate School of Food and Population Health Sciences, Gunma University,

Program of Food Science and Engineering,

Graduate School of Science and Technology, Gunma University,

Gunma University Center for Food Science and Wellness, JAPAN

Applications for admission by recommendation will open soon.
Our lab is recruiting graduate students for the Master’s Program in the Graduate School of Food and Population Health Sciences.
Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact us here.

We are engaged in the R & D of eco-friendly materials, "Green Polymers", for a clean and cool future.

@ Ajigaura Beach, Ibaraki, Japan

Welcome to

Green Polymer Laboratory

What's New

20260323 Published—

Endospore bioaugmentation greatly accelerates and stabilizes PBSA biodegradation in seawater—Polym Degrad Stab, 2026, 249, 112077.

20260201 Published—

We are thrilled to announce our exciting comparison of seawater from 12 locations in Japan! While PHBV biodegrades everywhere, the biodegradability of PBSA varies by location.—Polym Degrad Stab, 2026, 247, 111961.

Watch the summary

Site update—

20250501 Published—

Why is polyethylene difficult to biodegrade? ーClarifying the boundaries of biodegradability through meta-omics analysisーSTOTEN, 2025, 977, 179365.

20250122 Published—

Chemical synthesis of biodegradable plastics reveals why they degrade slowly in the ocean—Microbes work together to break down hard-to-degrade plastics in the ocean—ACS Sustain Resour Manageme, 2025, 2, 343–353.

Osaka Expo 2025—

We exhibited some of the achievements of the moonshot project at the Osaka Expo.

Everyday life in our lab, update—

20260427_Crab shells modulate biodegradation.
20250510_Preliminary field experiments.
20250315_Sampling seawater in Sendai.
20250310_Sample installation at Miyazu, Kyoto.
20250309_Sampling water in Yura river, Kyoto.
20250303_Sampling seawater at Ajigaura, Ibaragi.
20241209_Sample installation at Oki islands.

20250107 Press release —

Bacteria capable of rapidly degrading chemically synthesised biodegradable plastics in the ocean, which are slow to degrade in the ocean —Polym Degrad Stab, 2025, 232, 111161.

20250216 Press appearances—

An article introducing the new graduate school was published in the Nihon Nogyo Shimbun.

20250216_日本農業新聞（Full article）

Media appearances—

The NHK E-television Science ZERO program about marine plastic pollution will be re-aired.

NHK-E TELE Science ZERO
202041027_23:30-0:00
20241102_11:00-11:30

20241015 Media appearances—

Ken-ichi Kasuya, Director of the Center for Food Science and Wellness, will appear on TBS Radio's “Takeo Morimoto, Standby!

20241015 TBS radio

20240913 Press conference—

A press conference was held at the Gunma Prefectural Government regarding the establishment of the Grad School of Food and Population Health Sciences, Gunma Univ.

NHK news

20240718 Press release—

Ecolex FG2, a plastic film developed by Gunma University Center for Food Science and Wellness and Fukusuke Kogyo, has received the international certification of marine biodegradability, OK Biodegradable Marine certification from TüV AUSTRIA.

20240710 Press release—

Successfully developed technology to rapidly decompose biodegradable plastics in marine environments ~ Collecting microorganisms in the ocean and having them consume plastics ~ ーPolym Degrad Stab, 2024, 228, 110912.

20240509 Press release—

New Path to Microbially Degradable Plastic Synthesis by "Main Chain Editing" - Synthesis from Propylene, Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen PeroxideーJ Am Chem Soc, 2024 146, 13658–13665.

20240911_Science Japan

20240126 Press release—

Demonstration that biodegradable plastics can be degraded in the deep sea. Sunshine for solving the problem of plastic marine pollutionーNat Commun, 2024, 15, 568.

Learn more here

PJ ovewview

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