1．Key members

Chief Researcher/Head	ARAKI Michihiro
Specially appointed researcher	Thien Vu, Research Dawadi, WATANABE Naoki, KURIYA Yuki, YAMAMOTO Masaki, Jie Ting Tay, Phap Tran Ngoc Hoang
Visiting Researcher	KUBOTA Tetsuya, ITO Mari
Research coordinator	MURATA Masahiro
Technical assistant	IKKAI Misako, KAJIMURA Naoko
Office administrator	HIGUCHI Junko
Trainee	YOSHIZAKI Mari

2．Background and objectives

In the AI Nutrition Research, we are accumulating evidences related to health, nutrition, and metabolism, such as various cohort data, measurement data, and open data, and analyzing the data using AI and machine learning technologies, in collaboration with the AI Center for Health and Biomedical Research (ArCHER) and other departments and centers within the institute, as well as in collaboration with the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, companies, universities, and local governments. At the same time, we are developing AI and data analysis technologies to handle the multi-scale data contained in such data, from the molecular to the individual level.

These efforts are expected to lead to new evidence and knowledge for digital drug discovery and intervention proposals for individuals to improve their healthier lifestyles and self-care, as well as for disease prediction through future and trend simulations. As health issues in individual lifestyles are attracting attention, AI nutrition research aims to provide detailed health suggestions in accordance with individual's health conditions, which are becoming increasingly complex.

3．Overview of our research

I. Digital Health and Nutrition
In collaboration with internal and external partners, we are analyzing big data related to health and nutrition using AI and machine learning technologies to develop models for predicting the risk of disease onset. We are also identifying important factors involved in disease development and health maintenance, such as physical characteristics, lifestyle, dietary intake, and intestinal bacteria. This is expected to contribute to disease prevention and health maintenance, as well as to the advancement of digital health and nutrition.

II. Metabolic Informatics
In the bio-manufacturing field of the Bioeconomy Strategy, we are engaged in information and computational science research with a focus on metabolic informatics. In particular, we are working on the design of metabolic pathways and enzyme sequences using deep learning and other methods, the prediction and exploration of enzyme functions using 3D structure prediction, simulation using metabolic models and proposals for metabolic modification strategies, knowledge extraction from literature using LLM and other methods, and prediction and evaluation of metabolism and culture design.

III. Research collaboration and development
Utilizing the results of the above-mentioned research and information technology developments, we are working on a wide range of topics, such as metabolic informatics analysis of the intestinal microbiota, extraction of safety information on health foods from academic papers, and so on. We are also pursuing social implementation by promoting collaboration and joint research with companies, universities, other research institutes, etc.

*In addition to the above research, we are also involved in several collaborative research projects.

AI Nutrition Laboratory

E-Mail	eiyo-sec※nibiohn.go.jp （Replace * by @）