International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA from MAterials NanoArchitectonics) is a special research unit established in 2007 at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) within the World Premier International (WPI) Research Center Initiative by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
MANA brings together outstanding researchers from Japan and other countries to conduct research at NIMS. The organizations providing foreign researchers are named "satellites" and currently include
MANA advisors include Nobel Prize laureates Harold Kroto and Heinrich Rohrer, as well as other prominent scientists (C. N. R. Rao, Galen D. Stucky, etc.) and industry leaders (L. Schlapbach, CEO of Empa).
MANA members include such recognized scientists as Omar M. Yaghi, Christoph Gerber, James Gimzewski, Mark Welland and others.
MANA currently (September 2008) employs only several tens members, originating from at least 9 countries (Japan, UK, US, China, India, Russia, France, Italy and Sweden). However, the number of employees is planned to increase up to about 200.
The purpose of establishing MANA is very unusual for a scientific institution in a way that a relatively small unit (MANA, about 50 employees) is put forward to lead the research of a large scientific body (NIMS, about 1500 employees). In fact, MANA is considered as a mechanism of reorganization of the whole research system of NIMS. Consequently, best young scientists from all over the world are hired to conduct research, and the elite senior scientists are invited to guide them. Despite very young age of MANA, important results have already been obtained and published in major journals, such as Nature and Science, and more are expected to come in the nearest future.
Another unusual feature of MANA is that although it is located in Japan and most its employees are Japanese, its primary language is English. This feature reflects the initiative of NIMS to become a leading and truly international scientific center.
The research directions of MANA are based on the concept named nanoarchitectonics - a technology allowing to manipulate a group of atoms or molecules. Consequently, much effort is devoted to the synthesis and characterization of various nanomaterials and nanostructures with the results published in the main scientific journals and the MANA research and MANA news pages.
In September 2008, MANA embarked on a new program of scientific cooperation with the Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. The exchange of researchers and research information between the two institutions is projected as a crucial factor in collaborative research on the development and evaluation of sustainable chemical technology and nano-biofusion technology. [1]
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National Institute for Materials Science is an Independent Administrative Institution and one of the largest scientific research centers in Japan.
Nanoarchitectonics is a technology allowing to arrange nano-sized structural units, usually a group of atoms or molecules, in an intended configuration. It employs two major processes: nano-creation and nano-organization. Nano-organization involves re-arrangement of the structural units in a desired pattern, while nano-creation is synthesis of new materials that do not exist in nature. For example, by peeling atomic sheets off graphite slab, a novel nano-material graphene can be obtained, which has very different properties from graphite.
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Katsunori Wakabayashi is a physicist at the International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan. He is an authority and leading researcher in nanotechnology in the area of energy states of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCN). His research is notable for the edge effects of the nanographene materials, which is a part of the single layer graphene. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2000 from University of Tsukuba in Japan. From 2000 to 2009 he was an assistant professor at Department of Quantum Matter in Hiroshima University, Japan. From 2009, he is an Independent Scientist at International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba, Japan. Beside the above primary research position, he was a visiting scholar at ETH-Zurich, Switzerland from 2003 to 2005, also had a concurrent position as PRESTO researcher in Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).
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Ajayan Vinu is a material scientist. He is currently the Global Innovation Chair Professor for Advanced Nanomaterials and the director of Global Innovative Centre for Advanced Nanomaterials (GICAN), The University of Newcastle since October 2017 which houses more than 40 researchers including PhD students and staff. Before moving to the University of Newcastle, he was a professor of Nanomaterials at the University of South Australia from 2015-2017. and also worked at the University of Queensland as a Professor and ARC Future Fellow from 2011-2015. He is well known in the field of mesoporous carbon nitride and was the first one to introduce porosity in carbon nitride materials which find applications in different areas of research including catalysis, energy storage and conversion and carbon dioxide capture, and photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen generation.
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Coordinates: 36°04′11″N140°07′56″E / 36.06979°N 140.13236°E