Introduction of MINCY

Aim

Aim of the Meeting of Industrial Non-Conventional Yeasts (MINCY) of Japan is to promote the exchange of information on non-conventional yeasts among yeast researchers of universities, public research institutes, and companies, and to develop industrial applications of non-conventional yeasts.

Steering committee

President:

                 Akinori Ohta (Chubu University)

Vice presidents:

                 Haruyuki Iefuji (Ehime University)

Members: 

                 Hideki Tohda (Chitose Laboratory Corp.)

                 Hideo Araki (FUJI OIL CO.,LTD.)

                 Hiroaki Takaku (Niigata University of Pharmacy and Applied Science)

                 Hiroko Kitamoto (National Institute for Agro-Environmental Science)

                 Kazuo Masaki (National Research Institute of Brewing)

                 Masako Takashima (RIKEN)

                 Takahide Kishimoto (TOYOBO CO.,LTD.)

                 Tomotake Morita (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)

                 Tomoo Ogata (Maebashi Institute of Technology)

                 Takehiko Yokoo (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)

                 Ryouichi Fukuda (The University of Tokyo)

Secretaries:

                 Azusa Zouga (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)

Adviser:                

                 Masamichi Takagi (Niigata University of Pharmacy and Applied Science)

Message from President

   Yeasts are eukaryotes belonging to Kingdom Fungi, which includes not only yeasts but also filamentous fungi and mushrooms as well, and has many species.   Yeasts are mainly unicellular and spherical in shapes, and their taxonomical heterogeneity is well known.   Their industrial utilization at present, however, is surprisingly limited to several species.   Saccharomyces cerevisiae, one of conventional yeasts, has been a useful organism as an alcohol producer in various industries on the one hand, and as a model eukaryote in biochemistry and molecular biology on the other hand.

   We established a research meeting group called MINCY (Meeting of Industrial Non-Conventional Yeasts) in 2011 in Tokyo, Japan.   Its aim is clear from the naming, that is, it provides chances to exchange information specialized in non-conventional yeasts among scientists in this field on taxonomy, ecology, genomics and industrial use (as resources of chemical compounds, proteins, enzymes and genes, and as hosts for genetic engineering) for future development of research and application in industry.   We want to widen and deepen our activity to collect, analyze and utilize information from all over the world. It is not unreasonable to expect that information in this field could lead to development in usefulness of various yeasts species living in nature and to improvement of industry using non-conventional yeasts for human welfare.

   Nov. 24, 2015   Masamichi Takagi, Ph.D. , The President of MINCY