Sixteenth “Science in Japan” Forum Held in Washington DC
On 21 June 2011, the 16th “Science in Japan” Forum was held at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC. The topic this year was “Immune System and Cancer.”
The Forum opened with remarks by Dr. Richard Krause, senior Investigator (retied) of NIH, who is US co-organizer and also strong supporter of this Forum. After the remarks from Mr. Takashi Inutsuka, Science Counselor of the Embassy of Japan and Dr. Hirotaka Sugawara, JSPS Washington Office director, Dr. Hiroo Imura, President of Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation, who is this forum’s Japanese co-organizer explained why “Immue System and Cancer” was chosen as its theme this year.
The morning session was started by Dr. Louis Staudt of NIH, who introduced the speakers as convener. The first session proceeded with presentations by Dr. Tasuku Honjo, Kyoto University who gave the talk by the title of “Dilemma of AID: infection or cancer”; and Dr. Michel Nussenzweig, Rockefeller University. All two gave interesting talks. The second session of the morning began with Dr. Osamu Takeuchi, Osaka University; followed by Dr. Kenya Honda, The University of Tokyo who talked “Microbiotal influence on T cell subset development”. The DC audience was absorbed in their talks and appreciated the useful detail of their presentation.
The afternoon session’s convener was Dr. Tasuku Honjo. The first speaker for the afternoonwas Dr. Hiroyoshi Nishikawa, Osaka University, who gave the talk “Regulatory T cells for tumor immunity”; followed by Dr. Louis Staudt with his talk on “Malignant Pirates of the Immune System”. And the second session of the afternoon began with Dr. Nagahiro Minato of Kyoto university; followed by Dr. Hiroshi Shiku, Mie University, who both spoke about cancer immunotherapy. Listening attentively, the audience of specialists and science administrators showed keen interest via their questions and comments to the speakers.
The Forum assembled some 100 government administrators, university researchers and others interested individuals, whose animated interchange with the speakers and among each other highlighted the success of the event.
– JSPS Washington Office
