Saga University hosted seven undergraduate students and one accompanying faculty member from Sri Vishnu Educational Society (SVES), India, under JST’s Sakura Science Program. From September 7 to 13, 2026, the participants completed a hands-on educational program in medicinal plant genomics that combined plant DNA experiments with computer-based DNA sequence analysis. They presented their results on the final day.

● Purpose and Background

India is rich in food and medicinal plant resources, and genomic information is important for their classification and utilization. Building on academic exchange between Saga University and SVES, the program was designed to give undergraduate students in pharmacy and biotechnology practical experience in modern genomics and to foster future research talent and academic exchange between Japan and India.

● Program Details

At Saga University, they carried out CTAB-based plant DNA extraction and purification, agarose gel electrophoresis and DNA concentration measurement, and hands-on chloroplast genome assembly, comparison, and phylogenetic analysis. On September 10, they visited Kumamoto University’s Global Center for Natural Products Science to learn about medicinal plants and their management. On September 12, each participant presented the outcomes of the practical and analytical work.

● Expected Outcomes / Future Prospects

The participants experienced the full workflow from wet-lab experiments to bioinformatics, interpretation, and presentation of results. Saga University will build on this exchange to strengthen continuing student exchange and collaborative research with SVES under the existing academic partnership, with the aim of encouraging future graduate study and sustained circulation of young research talent between Japan and India.

【Contact】
　Prof. Yukio Nagano, Faculty of Agriculture, Saga University
　Tel: +81-952-28-8753   E-mail: nagano (at) cc.saga-u.ac.jp