Hokkaido University

Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery

FY2023

David Liptrot
(Senior Lecturer and Royal Society University Research Fellow, University of Bath, United Kingdom)
I joined the MANABIYA program after seeing excellent research from ICReDD presented at a conference. I joined the groups of Professor Maeda and Professor Mita hoping to learn the AFIR method for reaction discovery. I was immediately impressed with the strength of the AFIR method, and excited to apply it to the research going on in my research group. I was excellently supported during my time at ICReDD by many researchers, and as a result got a thorough grasp of AFIR. The results I garnered in only 5 weeks at ICReDD have already directly contributed to a successful grant application, and a publication based on synthetic work driven by these results is nearing publication. >>Read more.

Kiho Matsubara (PhD Student, Gunma University, Japan)
I spent an amazing time at WPI-ICReDD and enjoyed learning how to use the state-of-the-art GRRM program and discussing how I could enrich my ongoing research projects by using GRRM during my stay under the MANABIYA ACADEMIC program, both in 2022 and 2023. The time spent researching in this rare environment stimulated my own research attitude and was so meaningful that I decided to participate again in 2023. In 2023, I was also able to greatly expand my network of contacts by attending symposia and lectures organized by ICReDD. I think one of the main attractions of the MANABIYA program is the opportunity to actively participate in the activities of a research institution where cutting-edge research is being conducted. Regarding my computational chemistry work, I cannot thank all of the folks at ICReDD enough, especially Prof. Maeda, Specially Appointed Associate Prof. Harabuchi, and all the students in the Maeda lab for their generous support during my stay in Sapporo. Additionally, I very much owe thanks to Prof. Mita, Specially Appointed Assistant Prof. Hayashi, and the Mita group members for their kind supervision over the experimental chemistry work that I did in 2023.

Namhee KIM (PhD Student, Yonsei University, South Korea)
My experience in ICReDD was excellent for pursuing the research I wanted to conduct. The advantage of the MANABIYA program for me was collaborating with experts in the field in an environment equipped with better research and analytical instruments, such as single crystal X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. The free sharing of reagents and equipment between labs within ICReDD was also highly beneficial, and I learned various new techniques such as the crystallization of molecular rotors. Moreover, my colleagues were supportive, and I enjoyed social events such as the Christmas party. Throughout the MANABIYA program, I received plenty of administrative assistance, allowing me to enjoy my life without concerns. Overall, I found ICReDD to be a friendly place where people work together and share ideas to conduct high-level research.

Akira Katsuyama (Assistant Professor, Hokkaido University, Japan)
In the MANABIYA program, I learned about reaction path exploration of excited states using the AFIR method. During this experience, as I came to understand the challenges of searching for excited state structures, I realized AFIR is an incredibly powerful computational method for this purpose. The theoretical aspects presented in our published paper could only have been discussed with the help of this method. I am currently using what I learned to continue research that will discover new molecules. I received a lot of assistance from ICReDD staff, especially Professor Maeda and Professor Harabuchi, who enabled a specialist in organic synthesis like me to smoothly conduct computational chemistry research, so I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to them.

FY2022

Find out what it is like to come to Japan from abroad for the MANABIYA program by reading our interview with Francesco Puccetti, who was a PhD student at RWTH Aachen University in Germany during his time at ICReDD.

FY2020 

Tomoki Tadokoro (Undergraduate Student, Hokkaido University)
“I had stayed at ICReDD for four weeks and learned quantum calculation methods such as the AFIR method. The AFIR method allowed me to elucidate the mechanism of structural change and the structure of intermediates, both of which cannot be examined experimentally. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Satoshi Maeda, Assist. Prof. Yu Harabuchi, and the students in the Maeda group for their kind help.”

Shun Nishibe (Master’s Student, Waseda University)
“I was a novice with little experience in computational chemistry, however, Prof. Maeda  and the members of his group taught me very kindly. Also, the members of Prof. Mita’s group, which is in the same organic chemistry group as my laboratory, were very kind to me. In the end, I was able to submit my paper, which was my goal, and I had a very enjoyable time.”

Masahiro Kojima (Assistant Professor, Hokkaido University)
“In the summer of 2020, this project was under peer review. Although requested by one of the reviewers, I had a hard time figuring out the elusive transition state of the reaction. Fortunately, I joined MANABIYA at that very moment. I learned the strategic application of AFIR in elucidating the reaction pathway, and thanks to Prof. Maeda and everyone in ICReDD, the requested revisions were finished with success.”

FY2019

Tatsuhiko Yoshino (Lecturer, Hokkaido University)
“In the MANABIYA program, I learned how to use GRRM for computational mechanistic studies on organic reactions, and now I can routinely use GRRM for my research projects. Moreover, the opportunity to interact with professional computational chemists, organic chemists, as well as data scientists in ICReDD was very helpful for me to expand my research vision.”