Maimi Nakano (B4), Department of Chemical System Engineering, received SCEJ 91st Annual Meeting, Best Student Award

On 19th March 2026, Maimi Nakano (B4), Department of Chemical System Engineering, received SCEJ 91st Annual Meeting, Best Student Award.

SCEJ 91st Annual Meeting, Best Student Award

Among poster presentations by students, the research and presenters were comprehensively evaluated by industry, academia, and government judges, and were awarded to highly evaluated students among the top 12% of all the presenters.

About awarded research
Cryopreservation processes for human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are repeated multiple times during manufacturing, requiring a process design that considers their impact on the cells. While previous studies have modeled and optimized the freezing sub-process, the freezing and thawing sub-processes have conventionally been designed independently. Furthermore, cell quality degradation during storage has not been evaluated, making it difficult to design the cryopreservation processes. Therefore, in this study, a cryopreservation process model for hiPSCs was constructed and applied to process design. The results of this study make it possible to determine storage constraints and design variables for freezing and thawing.

Your impression & future plan
With the invaluable guidance and support of Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama, the laboratory members, and the collaborators, I was able to advance my research. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone involved. Encouraged by this award, I will continue to devote myself to furthering my research during my master's program.