Research Institutions

Cooperative Research Center of Life Sciences
(Established in April 2006)

The Kobe Gakuin University Cooperative Research Center of Life Sciences (LSC) was established when the University was chosen by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to participate in its Academic Frontier Promotion Program. It is currently exploring five research themes, with a focus on the Strategic Research Foundation Grant-aided Project for Private Universities (2012 to 2016), which followed the Academic Frontier Promotion Program. Over the approximately 13 years since its founding, the Center has worked to build structures facilitating collaboration with a broad range of experts both inside and outside the University, and it has played a role in achieving the City of Kobe’s goal of becoming a center of the medical industry. The Center works for the commercialization of research findings with the aim of conducting creative research activities.

Center for Area Research and Development
(Established in April 2002)

The Center’s research theme is “The coexistence of the University and the community.” Teachers and students of the University proactively leave the campus to identify various problems in the community and search for solutions through practical research. The center was subsidized by the Academic Frontier Promotion Project of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for eight years from 2002. It was selected for the “Strategic Research Base Development Program for Private Universities” in 2011 and promoted a large-scale three-year research project. The aim is to become a university that works together with the local region to create a rich regional society based on these experiences.

Clinical Psychology Counseling Center
(Established in October 2007)

In addition to providing psychological support for local residents, this Center was also established as an institution to carry out practical education and research activities in psychology. The Center provides support for psychological issues such as child rearing, human relationships and stress, using methods such as psychological consultations (counseling), psychological examinations and cooperation with specialized institutions. It also functions as a location for practical education and postgraduate students aiming to become licensed psychologists also take responsibility for psychological consultations. It carries out activities so that it can make a contribution to the psychological health of local residents in a concrete way, based on the results and knowledge accumulated through psychology research so far.

Research Center for Locomotion Biology
(Established in April 2013)

We are carrying out various types of research on locomotion from a biological viewpoint, focusing on “muscles” as the central topic of study. Since 2020, we have been conducting research on a muscle atrophy treatment method that impedes the functions of the muscle growth inhibitor myostatin, under the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), Practical Research Project for Rare/Intractable Diseases. These results are expected to establish a revolutionary new treatment method for muscle atrophy. Another subject of our research is a protein known as titin which is contained in muscles. We have clearly shown that in muscular diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, titin is broken down and excreted in urine, a finding which is now attracting attention as a new candidate for clinical test items. In addition, evaluations of muscle collapse which use urinary titin as an indicator are being expanded to the field of nutritional science as well as kinematics.