Graduate School Education: A cross-departmental “Training Course for Raising Research Leaders in Membrane Biology is established for nurturing creativity as well as the ability to pursue independent and international research activities, which is based on a special program already instituted with the support of a governmental grant. In this course, 20 outstanding students in their first and second years of doctoral programs are selected every year based on evaluation of their research proposals written in English, are provided with grants for independent research (approx. $8000/year) and financial supports, which are subject to renewal each year based on evaluation, and pursue independent research projects under appropriate mentoring and advices from COE members. They take special subjects to acquire a wide range of systematic and interdisciplinary knowledge and methodologies in membrane biology, including various fields from structural biology to biology of higher-level functions in addition to those nurturing the ability of English presentation and writing.