On April 14, 2026, Nagoya University hosted Her Excellency Béatrice Le Fraper du Hellen, Ambassador of France to Japan, for a commemorative ceremony marking the launch of IRL GlycoMIRAI. The event, held at Common Nexus on the Higashiyama Campus, also brought together senior CNRS leadership, including André Le Bivic, director of CNRS Biology, alongside Nagoya University President Naoshi Sugiyama and other representatives of the Tokai National Higher Education and Research System (THERS).
IRL GlycoMIRAI — short for Multidisciplinary International Research for Advancing Innovation in Glycosciences — is a new International Research Laboratory (IRL) jointly established by Nagoya University and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Working in close partnership with the Institute for Glyco-core Research (iGCORE), the lab brings together researchers from French and Japanese institutions to pursue cutting-edge glycoscience: the study of sugar chains that coat the surface of virtually every living cell.
For more on the laboratory and its research themes, see the related article from April 13, 2026.
In her remarks, Ambassador Le Fraper du Hellen noted that the ceremony came just days after French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Japan, during which scientific cooperation between the two countries took center stage. Coinciding with this visit, President Sugiyama and CNRS Chairman and CEO Antoine Petit met in Tokyo to sign the agreement underpinning GlycoMIRAI.
The Ambassador situated the new laboratory within a broader vision, pointing to the “One Health” approach as a framework especially well suited to the kind of research GlycoMIRAI will pursue. “Glycosciences also offer opportunities to face global challenges, from improving health and ensuring food security,” she said, noting that the timing was fitting given that the One Health Summit had been held in Lyon, France, on April 7.
President Sugiyama also spoke at the ceremony, expressing his hopes for the laboratory’s growth in the years ahead. Nagoya University’s spirit of free and creative thinking has nurtured six Nobel laureates, and Sugiyama suggested that the international collaboration fostered by GlycoMIRAI could one day produce another.
Following the ceremony, Ambassador Le Fraper du Hellen met separately with President Sugiyama. Discussions focused on strengthening student mobility and research collaboration between Nagoya University and French institutions, with particular attention to expanding study abroad opportunities in France. The two sides also reflected on an already active relationship: Nagoya University maintains inter-university agreements with 11 French institutions and runs ongoing exchange programs, including a long-standing partnership with the University of Strasbourg that has facilitated researcher visits and short-term language programs for undergraduate students.
