Message from Director
Greetings from Director
Director
Materials and Structures Laboratory
Institute of Integrated Research
Institute of SCIENCE TOKYO
Prof. Yutaka MAJIMA
On October 1, 2024, Institute of Science Tokyo was established by merging Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University. Our laboratory, Materials and Structures Laboratory (MSL), was renamed from Laboratory for Materials and Structures. On the same day, I was appointed as the Director of MSL at Institute of Integrated Research, Institute of Science Tokyo.
MSL originated from two research institutes: Research Laboratory of Building Materials (established in February 1934) and Research Laboratory of Ceramics Industry (established in January 1943). These institutes were integrated into the Research Laboratory of Engineering Research (established in April 1958). This integration was followed by the reorganization of the Materials and Structures Laboratory in May 1996. In April 2016, as part of the reform of Tokyo Institute of Technology, the name was changed to the Laboratory for Materials and Structures with the establishment of Institute of Innovative Research, leading to the current MSL, Institute of Integrated Research, Institute of Science Tokyo since October 2024. Following the university reform in 2016, the architecture faculty became affiliated with Laboratory for Future Interdisciplinary Research and Technology and was later affiliated with the Multidisciplinary Resilience Research Center in April 2023, while the metallurgical faculty became affiliated with the MSL in 2016.
The mission of MSL is to create materials with innovative properties and functions, primarily using inorganic materials as well as metallic, organic, and biomaterials through material fusion. MSL aims to explore new scientific principles related to these materials and contribute to addressing challenges faced by humanity and society.
In 2009, our MSL was appointed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) as an individual center for the “Joint Research Center for Advanced Inorganic Materials.” Since then, MSL has served as a hub for the research community in inorganic materials and building structure-related fields, both in Japan and abroad. MSL has developed into a large-scale research center for materials, ranging from nanometer-sized atoms, molecules, and devices to kilometer-sized buildings.
MSL boasts unique and energetic faculties, extensive high-performance facilities and equipment, and a tradition of fostering basic and practical research in a free and open atmosphere. In a world characterized by rapid changes in faculties, facilities, grants, and information within our country and university, MSL must enhance its presence. To achieve this, it is essential for each MSL member to pursue our mission with their own ideas and to transform MSL into an “extraordinary research hub".
I would like to request your continued support and cooperation in achieving our mission.
April, 2025
Prof. Yutaka Majima
Director, Materials and Structures Laboratory
