In July 2024, the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, together with the Institute for Molecular Science and the Exploratory Research Center on Life and Living Systems, established the "Core for Spin Life Sciences, Okazaki Collaborative Platform." With the primary goal of exploring new frontiers where molecular science, life science, and physiology converge, this "Core for Spin Life Sciences" serves as a novel research hub in the field of spin life sciences. Here is built upon the fundamental technology of Magnetic Resonance (MR) technology and a collective of researchers with diverse specializations.
　Specifically, we will develop new principles and methods for MR measurement in vivo, from the development of new molecular probes for MR to MR image measurement in model animals, all in an integrated manner in the Okazaki area.
 The "Core for Spin Life  Sciences" has also established  a new joint usage/research network, "Frontier of Spin Life Sciences (Spin-L)," in the field of spin life sciences through partnerships with four node institutions: the Joint Usage/Research Centers of the Institute for Chemical Research (Kyoto University), the Institute for Protein Research (Osaka University), and the Brain Research Institute (Niigata University), and the Institute for Quantum Life Science (National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology). And Spin-L, a ten-year project focusing on the creation and growth of spin life sciences, launched FY 2023.
 Spin-L will carry out the following three missions.

　The main activities in FY 2024 were: as a human resources development project, we supported the overseas research of two Ph.D. students from the participating institutions, and held a retreat organized and led by the "Associates of next-generation researchers of Spin-L," which was established by early-career researchers and engineers from the participating institutions. In addition, interdisciplinary training courses and interdisciplinary study groups were held to promote interaction among researchers in different fields. In terms of research activities, a total of 78 joint usage/research projects were carried out using the Spin-L network. To further our initiative, we have created new Visiting Departments within the “Core for Spin Life Sciences” specifically to advance our unique project research, which is a form of “Project based - collaborative research”. These Visiting Departments will welcome outstanding researchers from related fields within the research community as visiting principal investigators (PIs) and project faculty members, and will get started in earnest from FY 2025.