Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University

The Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University (, NEKKEN or NUITM), is an ancillary institute of Nagasaki University. The institute is located in Nagasaki, Japan and has research stations in Vietnam and Kenya. As one of the world's leading institutes for training and research in tropical medicine and health care, the institute is stipulated as a Joint Usage/ Research Center under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), to spear-head academic research and, is a member of the Japan Infectious Disease Research Consortium that includes Institute of Medical Science (Japan), Osaka University and Hokkaido University.
In cooperation with international and national collaborators, NEKKEN is a leading institution in infectious diseases, tropical medicine, and international health. The institution has over a hundred graduate students. NUITM also carries out an extensive capacity strengthening program in counterpart countries, and collaborates with a large network of institutions in Africa, South America, and Asia through programs by the Japanese government (MEXT, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Official Development Assistance (Japan) (ODA), Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)) and the WHO. The institute acts as a WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Reference of Tropical and Emerging Viral Diseases and as WHO reference laboratories providing confirmatory testing for COVID-19.
History.
The Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University was originally founded in March 1942 as the East Asia Research Institute of Endemics, Nagasaki Medical College to perform basic and applied studies on endemic diseases in East Asia. As the institute is located at the epicenter of the atomic bomb, together with casualties in staff and students, the facility and materials were destroyed during the bombing in 1945. In 1949, the institute merged with other faculties to form Nagasaki University under the new ruling of the National School Establishment Law.
Research Activities.
For the past 75 years since the establishment of the institute, researchers at NUITM study fundamental and applied studies on tropical and emerging diseases. This includes infectious disease epidemiology studies in the field and vaccine and therapeutics development against infectious diseases. Of note, the field research conducted in Kenya has also inspired a popular song, novel, featured on a film, The Lion Standing in the Wind, and a charity foundation.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the institute led the International Infectious Disease Consortium against COVID-19 (grant-in-aid emergency fund), an international research collaboration to develop countermeasures against the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. 
Researchers at NUITM, in collaboration with local public health institutes, initiated efforts in diagnosing SARS-CoV-2, including developing new diagnostic tools. Together with technology transfer and collaboration with Southeast Asia counterparts, this has also led to shedding light in how the disease spread in Japan and Southeast-Asia.
Researchers at NUITM have established several international research partnerships, including research collaborations in Vietnam the Philippines, and Kenya, to study emerging and re-emerging diseases.