The Nippi corporation has owned a laboratory from the time of its founding. In 1921, upon obtaining a subsidy for research in the tanning of leather for military use, a new ResearchCenter was built. Subsequently, in 1938, upon obtaining permission from the Minister of Commerce and Industry, the Japan Institute of Leather Research, a nonprofit foundation, was founded. In the ResearchCenter, developing leather manufacturing, analysis of leather products and research of gelatin were conducted.
In the 1950s, collagen research was started. Collagen is a major content in skin and bone. In 1960, we succeeded in the solubilization of collagen into molecular form, which was the first report of collagen solubilization in the world. A patent for this solubilizing method using trypsin or pepsin was obtained in 1963. Subsequently we developed other solubilization methods based on proctase (1963) and alkali (1969).
Our successes in collagen solubilization were directly linked to the development of collagen-based sausage casings, cosmetics and other products that play a important part in Nippi’s current operations. We are continuously conducting research in a wide range of areas such as leather tanning; improving the performance of photographic gelatin, polyvinyl chloride and other synthetic high polymers, basic research on collagen, collagen applications for medical treatment and the separation of collagen-decomposing enzymes from bacteria and their use.
