On November 18-22, 2019, Prof. Fukushima Kazuhiko from Nagoya University was invited to visit the School of Life Sciences. More than 150 researchers and students from School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Environment Research Institute attended the reports.

Based on the resent researches, Prof. Fukushima presented 3 reports. In the report entitled “Introduction to biomass science”, Prof. Fukushima introduced the concept of lignocellulose, the structure of lignin and the difficulty of analysis, and finally indicated that researches on lignin biosynthesis and structure analysis are essential for effective utilization of lignin. In the report entitled “Highly efficient saccharification of unused woody biomass”, Prof. Fukushima pointed out that the development of high-efficiency saccharification enables us to use alternative biomass-wood, and sustainable forest management will guarantee sustainable supply of biofuels. Prof. Fukushima also gave a lecture to the undergraduate students. More than 100 undergraduate students from School of Life Sciences attended the lecture titled "Nagoya University and Japanese wooden architecture". In the lecture, Prof. Fukushima introduced the organizational structure, academic outputs, and educational models of Nagoya University. Japanese wood culture and the national heritage of some Japanese wooden buildings were also introduced. During the reports and lecture, Prof. Fukushima warmly discussed with the researches and students.

Nagoya University is one of the top universities around the world. Prof. Fukushima Kazuhiko is from Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University. He studies on the forest chemistry and wood anatomy for many years. He served as the dean of Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences several years ago. As the president of Japan Wood Research Society, he is also the member of editorial board of “Holzforschung”, “Journal of Wood Science”, “Mokuzai Gakkaishi”.