From April 23 to 26, the sixth symposium of the RIKEN-Max Planck Joint Research Center for Systems Chemical Biology was held in Naha, Okinawa. This event is held every year to promote research collaboration between Japan and Germany.
The Joint Research Center was established in 2011 with the aim to become a leading world institution in the area of systems chemical biology. Key members of the center are Director Herbert Waldmann of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, Director Peter Seeberger of the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces, Director Hiroyuki Osada of the RIKEN-Max Planck Joint Research Division for Systems Chemical Biology in the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, and as a recent addition, from this year, RIKEN Chief Scientist Katsunori Tanaka.
At the symposium on the 24th, OIST Dean of Academic Affairs Mary Collins welcomed the participants to Okinawa. Then, RIKEN CSRS Director Kazuo Shinozaki gave a greeting to open the event, reminding the participants of what had been accomplished in the previous year and expressing his wish that this event would contribute to strengthening the partnership further. The symposium was attended by about 50 people including 15 guests from Germany, who presented and discussed their latest research work. They were also treated to a special lecture by 2001 Nobel Laureate Tim Hunt, who discussed recent results of research on the mechanism of cell cycle regulation, a hot area of research in the field of chemical biology.