Department of Biomedical Sciences (BMS) organised a study tour to Japan from 17 to 20 May 2016 with 12 participating students. During the study tour, the biomedical students visited a Japanese IVD (In Vitro Diagnostic device) Medical Company (Sysmex Corporation) and Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster – a Japanese Government funded innovation project to develop biomedical related industry in Kobe Port Island.
Sysmex Corporation is a biomedical IVD company engaged in the medical and health care business. Sysmex is also a leading manufacturer in the field of clinical diagnostics and is engaged in research & development. Their products include reagents for hematology, immunoserological testing, urinalysis, and related software for clinical examination information systems.
Inside the Sysmex Group’s core R&D facility, Technopark, it is equipped with state-of-the-art research facilities which provide researchers and engineers in different medical fields (e.g. hematology, clinical chemistry, immunology and etc.) for serving medical care. Our BMS students have the opportunities to explore the industrial R&D sectors and learn how new medical products and analyzers are developed.
I-square, the manufacturing sites of Sysmex Corporation, is equipped with medical testing devices and analyzers. Students can have the rare chance to witness the manufacturing processes of medical analyzers and devices at different levels, from the engineering processes, internal quality control to final validation.
The showroom – Solution Centre demonstrates all the Sysmex medical analyzers. Students will have the opportunities to study the principles of each clinical analyzer, and also get familiar with the commonly used medical analyzers in the market. In addition, a technical library with a large collection of academic documents (e.g. books, technical manuals, posters and other educational materials) specifically for in-vitro diagnostic field is available for visitors. All the educational materials are free of charge and students can take those educational materials home after the visit.
Seishin factory is the manufacturing site for Sysmex medical testing reagents. Students observed the processes of reagent preparations, quality control, validation and packing. During the visit, we are all wearing full set of protective gear from head to toe, which include white hair cap, face mask, lab coat and shoe covers, to follow the standard operation procedures (SOP) of the reagent factory.
Last but not least, we all visited Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster in Port Island, which is one of the largest biomedical clusters in Japan, research institutes (e.g. RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (CDB), the Kobe Translational Research Informatics Center (TRI), RIKEN supercomputer, K Computer, etc.), highly specialized hospitals (e.g. Kobe Minimally Invasive Cancer Center, Kobe city’s flagship hospital and the Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital) and multiple medical companies and groups are established in the area. Students can find almost everything in Port Island, from basic research to the development of clinical applications and industrialization related to a variety of themes including treatment, diagnosis, prevention, caregiving, welfare, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, regenerative medicine, and all other fields.
Dr Terrence Lau, Dr Ming Chan and Dr Jackie Pon led the study tour. The 12 students have experienced an enjoyable, educational and fruitful tour although visiting various sites, like I-Square factory, Solution Centre, Seishin factory, Technopark and Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster in Port Island. It is absolutely worthwhile visiting these sites as students had enhanced their knowledge in biomedical and health care field through the out-of-classroom learning experience at such leading manufacturer of clinical diagnostics, and also the Japanese government-funded innovation cluster.
