Uniqueness and Objectives

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology selected the Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC) as part of the World Premier International Research Center (WPI) Program, which aims to create world-leading visible research centers, and IFReC was established on October 1, 2007 with Shizuo Akira, a leading immunology researcher at its head.

From April 2017, the center has entered a new era as an Osaka University International Advanced Research Institute Center and with contracts concluded with the pharmaceutical companies to move forward to enhance basic research in immunology as well as accelerate the return of cutting-edge research outcomes to society.

IFReC has selected Kiyoshi Takeda, who is a leading authority in the fields of innate immunity and gut immunity, to be the next director starting July 2019. We look forward to the beginning of a new departure for IFReC.

Missions of IFReC
  • Leading-edge research
  • Promotion of Human Immunology
  • Nurturing next generation
  • Globalization
  • Open research environment

Basic Researches

Returning to the Society

  • Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University(clinical data)
  • Pharmaceutical Companies (drug screening)

A Message from the Director

Since its inception as a WPI research center, IFReC has published numerous world's top level research achievements in diverse fields of immunology.

To further develop as an international research center, it is important for IFReC to have a system for sharing those results with society. IFReC advances basic research using samples of human origin with the cooperation of the departments of clinical medicine. Further, by incorporating the viewpoint of pharmaceutical companies, we are accelerating the sharing of our basic research with society, namely, through the development of new drugs and new treatment techniques.

The nurturing of next generation researchers and the promotion of internationalization are also important missions. IFReC has concluded international collaboration agreements and has actively increased networking among researchers. The Immunology School for young researchers has been enhanced and IFReC provides an enticing environment for the next generation of international researchers.

Our researchers and staff will continue to strive to make IFReC a world-leading research center and a source of innovative achievements in immunology.

Director, WPI Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University
Kiyoshi Takeda

An attractive international research center

IFReC has concluded Academic Cooperation Agreements with foreign institutes to expand our research activity. We are dedicated to the development of an attractive international research center with an excellent environment and support system that can draw front-line research scientists from around the world. Through the realization of this attractive international research center, we are aiming for novel strategies for the development of vaccines for infectious diseases, original concepts for immunity-based therapies for various infectious diseases and cancer, and methods for treating autoimmune diseases.