分子科学研究所

Site Search

About IMS

Message from DG

Molecules are the basic units that make up materials, and are the source of the properties and functions of materials.  In order to deeply understand the functions of materials and to utilize them in a more efficient manner, it is essential to understand materials at the level of molecular structures and the atoms that compose them, as well as to understand systems composed of groups of molecules and functions that transcend hierarchies.  Molecular science is a science that covers the interdisciplinary area of physics and chemistry, which attempts to understand the chemical properties and functions of molecules using both physical and chemical methods, and its research targets range from individual molecules to space and life sciences. 

 

Since its establishment nearly 50 years ago, the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), as a center of excellence in Japan, has been promoting leading research in the field of molecular science both in Japan and abroad in terms of both experimental and theoretical research, and supporting research in related research fields in Japan.  In order to maintain its research support function as a comprehensive inter-university research institute, the institute will continue to provide research facilities and equipment to related researchers, as well as opportunities for joint research, exchange of researchers, and international academic exchange, and will also continue its mission to foster young researchers in a state-of-the-art research environment and to maintain its function as an international research center.  The mission of the Institute for Molecular Science is to maintain its function as an international research center.

 

The Institute for Molecular Science is currently composed of four research areas: Photonic Molecular Science, Materials Molecular Science, Life and Coordination Molecular Science, and Theoretical and Computational Molecular Science, as well as two research centers that connect these four areas: the Cooperative Research Center for Molecular Systems and the Mesoscopic Sensing Research Center.  In addition, we have the UVSOR Synchrotron Facility, the Computational Science Research Center, the Instrumentation Center, and the Equipment Development Office, which promote basic research on the structure, reaction, and function of molecules.  In cooperation with the Center for Frontier Biosciences of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences, IMS will continue to take on the challenge of opening up new scientific fields by promoting research that leads the scientific field based on the fundamentals of academic research.

 

Keeping its foundation on basic research, IMS will never stop being at the forefront of future Molecular Science.

 

April 2022
Director General, Institute for Molecular Science
WATANABE, Yoshihito
Director General Watanabe's Profile