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NATURE | VOL 410 | 1 MARCH 2001 | www.nature.com 7

returning to Japan after 30 years in the UnitedStates to head the Gene Discovery ResearchCenter. He says the emphasis on practicalapplications “is a new thing in Japan, whereacademics have generally stuck to a ‘pure science’ ethic”. Kurachi, who was most recent-ly at the University of Michigan, says he plansto work on medical applications of his re-search on the genes involved in the increasedrisk of cardiovascular disease with age.

The transformation of AIST is beingwatched with special interest by Japan’s universities, which are also due to becomeindependent agencies in 2003 (see Nature401, 416; 1999). ■

David Cyranoski, TokyoAn ambitious effort to restructure theresearch arm of Japan’s industry ministry hasalready attracted a clutch of prestigious sci-entists to head its new institutes. Theyinclude leading university researchers fromthe United States and Sumio Iijima, the dis-coverer of carbon nanotubes.

Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, a former presidentof Tokyo University, is in charge of theresearch revamp at the Ministry of Economy,Trade and Industry (METI), previouslyknown as the Ministry of InternationalTrade and Industry (MITI).

On 1 April, the National Institute ofAdvanced Industrial Science and Technolo-gy (AIST) will be set up as an autonomousagency within METI. It will replace the oldAgency of Industrial Science and Technology(also known as AIST).

The new body will comprise 45 institutesand centres. Its structure is designed tocombine application-orientated goals withconsiderable operational autonomy for theinstitutes.

Yoshikawa will appoint institute direc-tors and allocate funds, powers previouslyheld by civil servants at METI. ButYoshikawa says he recognizes that autonomybrings with it the responsibility for deliver-ing results. “A national institute has to proveits value to society — it has to be mission-oriented,” he says. He adds that the old AISTallowed researchers too much freedom “tofollow their own curiosity”.

One key mission will be to gear researchtowards “sustainable development”. The aimis not only for advances in environmentalscience, but also to achieve social goals,Yoshikawa says. Japan’s rapidly ageing popu-lation, for example, might benefit from theapplications of robotic technology.

The new institutes and centres will beformed by splitting up the old AIST’s 15 laboratories. Each institute will house fewer than 100 researchers, whereas the oldAIST laboratories employed as many as 600 research staff on a single site. Thereduced size is meant to bring greateraccountability, and the new system will beevaluated in three to five years’ time.

Although researchers appreciated theirfreedom, under the old system, from having to consider practical applications for theirresearch, some say they are ready for tighterorganization. “To make a big impact, youneed strong management and clearer author-ity,” says Junji Itoh, a 16-year veteran of theold AIST and director-designate of the newElectronics Research Institute, which, likemost of the institutes, is based in Tsukuba.

But some critics fear that too many insti-tutes will lead to inefficiency. “Communica-tion will be key,” says Fu-Kuo Chang, a

researcher in aeronautics from StanfordUniversity in California, who will head theSmart Structures Research Center.

The institutes are being designed to forgestronger ties between basic science and itsindustrial application. Previously there havebeen few such links in Japan. New measuresto give researchers a direct share in any tech-nology transfer agreements are designed toencourage such collaboration. The instituteswill also accept commissioned research pro-jects from commercial companies.

Iijima will head AIST’s Research Center ofAdvanced Carbon Materials. And KotokuKurachi, a professor of human genetics, is

Goal-directed revamp for Japanese research

Israel seeks sweet smell of successHaim Watzman, JerusalemA project to create a DNA database of thegenes responsible for the perfume in flowersis under way at the Hebrew University ofJerusalem. Its purpose is to identify genesthat can be inserted into cultivated flowersin order to improve their smell.

The project has already identified some2,000 genes that are active in rose petals andhas created a library of expressed sequencetags (ESTs) that map the genes.

According to David Weiss, a horticulturistand a member of the project team, the workhas identified seven candidate genes forinitiators of the biochemical processes thatproduce rose aromas. The next step, he says,is to study the biochemical pathways that leadfrom the gene, through the proteins theyproduce, to the substances that give theflower its pleasant smell.

“We know a lot about the chemistry offlower perfumes, many of which areproduced synthetically by industry,” Weiss

explains. “But we know very little about thebiochemistry — the biological processesthat produce the perfumes.” The work issupported by a US$220,000 annual grantfrom the Ministry of Science.

Weiss and his colleague AlexanderVainstein recently broke new ground. Theytransferred an aroma-producing geneisolated by Eran Pichersky of the Universityof Michigan from a wild California flower,the clarkia (Clarkia breweri), into carnations.Carnations possessing the gene, Weiss says,have a new biochemical pathway thatproduces the major compound responsiblefor the clarkia’s aroma, linalool, and otherfragrance-producing chemicals.

Cultivated flowers, bred for their large,colourful blooms, tend to lose much of thesmell of their wild ancestors, Weiss explains.Getting the smell back into them could be amajor boon for Israel’s 1,600 flower-growers, who export $250 million worth offlowers each year. ■

Fresh horizons: the AIST facilities at Tsukuba, which will be led by Hiroyuki Yoshikawa (inset).

© 2001 Macmillan Magazines Ltd