Tropical Medicine Museum
The museum exhibits and preserves a wide range of items, including overview panels on tropical diseases, specimens of parasites, bacteria, viruses, pathogenic insects and dangerous animals, visual materials, books and other valuable documents from the history of medicine. In the audiovisual section, visitors can watch videos of mosquitoes sucking blood and a variety of other genres on an 80-inch large screen. A new section has also been set up where visitors can classify mosquitoes and separate male and female mosquitoes, with the aim of increasing interest in and understanding of tropical infectious diseases among many people.
Members
- Professor and head
- Wataru Iijima
- Technologist
- Kazuo Araki
- Research Fellow
- Hiroki Uchida
In FY2022, the number of visitors to the museum remained considerably reduced (approximately 600, about half the number before the coronavirus epidemic) due to the impact of the new coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19), as in the previous year. The main activities of the museum under these circumstances were.
- Museum management: approximately 100 overview panels on diseases that frequently occur in the tropics, microscopic images, pathological films, specimens and models of pathogen vectors, a model of a high-safety laboratory（BSL-4） facility and BSL-4 protective clothing are displayed and explained to domestic and international visitors. Languages available are Japanese, English and Chinese.
n addition to the regular museum operations, the following activities were also undertaken.
1） From the perspective of infection control measures against COVID-19, an online seminar mainly for junior and senior high school students was organised as "Nekken Summer School 2022" instead of the Nekken Summer School, as in the previous year. The theme was 'Offensive and Defensive Measures against Various Infectious Diseases', and four young researchers gave presentations. The museum was well received by the more than 100 participants and the speakers facilitated a smooth Q&A session.
2） A request was received for a group visit from a high school in the Kanto region. The day started with a 30-minute classroom lecture entitled 'Welcome to the Museum of Tropical Medicine', followed by a visit to the Museum of Tropical Medicine, a visit to the 150th anniversary museum in Ryojun Kaikan, and a viewing of a video introducing the Institute in the large seminar room, with each group rotating through their respective posts. The students then gathered again in one place for a closing speech, after which they disbanded. The students were later thanked for their contribution to broadening their perspectives. - The Institute's IT (Information Technology) environment maintenance and management: For the first time in five years, the servers and network equipment were updated, and the information equipment was renewed. At the same time, the Institute's website was encrypted and the site continues to be maintained and managed.
In addition, the Institute is working to improve the environment, including a system for lending IT equipment to meet the diverse needs of researchers and others at the Institute of Tropical Medicine.