EVENTS

Purpose

• ▪  To offer an opportunity for young scientists to give research presentations.
• ▪  To encourage the motivation and desire to conduct research by recognizing unique ideas.

Requirements

1. ▪  In principle, must be age 35 or younger and must be involved in the types of research noted below (a or b).
2. ▪  Must be working at a Japanese research institution (any nationality) or a Japanese researcher currently studying overseas.

Types of Research:

1. (a) Any invention or discovery related to the life sciences
2. (b) Any invention or discovery that could be a future contribution to the life sciences

Criteria for Selection

• ▪ Research based on a creative idea
• ▪ Research with future potential

Number of Presenters to be Selected

30 (about 5 to be Japanese researchers currently studying overseas)
Separately, GSC Tanabata may put out a call for applications from young non-Japanese researchers working at a research organization in Asia.

Schedule

Date:

Friday, July 6, 2012

Location:

Yokohama Institute, Main Office Building Lecture Hall (1F)

10:30	Opening remarks by Dr. Akiyoshi Wada (Director, GSC)
10:45	Lecture by Dr. Taro Muto and Dr. Ayako Yamada (Participants in the 2nd GSC Tanabata Meeting)
11:45	Lunch
12:45	Two-minute speech by poster presenters
13:45	Group Photo
13:50	Poster Sessions
16:00	Lecture by Dr. Masayo Takahashi (Team leader, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology)
16:30	Closing remarks by Dr. Yoshihide Hayashizaki (Director, RIKEN Omics Science Center)
17:00	Social gathering

* Presentations and posters must be submitted in English.
Report on GSC Tanabata 2011:http://www.gsc.riken.jp/eng/news/tanabata2011/

How to Apply

1. (a) Application Form(Excel) for the Poster Presentation
2. (b) A letter of nomination(Excel) or a self-nomination(Excel) by either post or email
3. (c) An English abstract of the research to be presented (one A4 page, free format)

Submit (a), (b), and (c) by either post or email.
email:

Transportation expenses will be paid within the limits allowed by our internal regulations.

Deadline

• March 9, 2012

Selection Procedure and Notification

A review committee of the following 11 individuals will select presenters. Applicants will be notified of the results by post or by email by late May.

Review Committee
• Prof. Kazuyuki Aihara, Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo
• Prof. Keiko Abe, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo
• Prof. Kazunori Kataoka, Department of Materials Engineering, the University of Tokyo
• Prof. Tomoji Kawai, the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University
• Dr. Hiroaki Kitano, Director, Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc.
• Prof. Kuniaki Nagayama, National Institutes of Natural Science
• Prof. Kenji Yasuda, Institute of biomaterials and bioengineering, Tokyo Medical and Dental University
• Prof. Kenichi Yoshikawa, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University
• Dr. Kazuo Shinozaki, Director, Plant Science Center, RIKEN Yokohama Institute
• Dr. Yoshihide Hayashizaki, Director, Omics Science Center, RIKEN Yokohama
• Dr. Koji Kaya, Deputy Director, Next-Generation Supercomputer R&D Center, RIKEN

Submission of Applications and Inquiries

Persons in Charge Toru Yao, Yu Shimoda and Chiharu Yamada
Planning Section, Yokohama Research Promotion Division
RIKEN Yokohama Institute
1-7-22, Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Japan 230-0045

E-mail:
TEL:045-503-9121 FAX:045-503-9113

Grant from: The Tokyo Club

Important Points about Transportation Expenses

Transportation expenses will be paid within the limits allowed by our internal regulations.

• For persons at research organizations in Japan
• ▪  The amount paid will be most economical travel route from the affiliated research organization to RIKEN Yokohama Institute.
• For persons at research organizations outside Japan
• ▪  In principle, the actual cost of the air ticket will be paid. For transportation in Japan, the amount paid will be the most economical travel route between the airport (Narita or Haneda) and RIKEN Yokohama Institute.
• ▪  For persons with business at other research organizations, etc. before or after the GSC Tanabata Meeting, in principle only part of the airfare to attend GSC Tanabata will be paid.
  (Example): A researcher based on the East Coast of the United States will be attending a conference on the West Coast directly before coming to Japan and return to the States directly after GSC Tanabata. In principle, only part of the cost of the ticket to attend GSC Tanabata (airfare and transport in Japan) cannot be paid. In other words, the researcher must go directly to and from Japan from their home base with no stopovers for other business (research or personal) in order to have the full cost of the return transportation paid.

We plan to pay for the travel expenses of participants with the above restrictions. However, as funding for public institutions has become much stricter in the past few years, there is a small possibility we may need to ask that participants pay part of the travel expenses. We ask for your understanding and cooperation in such a situation.

Please contact us if you have any questions about the above information.

The objective of the GSC Tanabata Meeting         --- Akiyoshi Wada, Director, RIKEN GSC

The GSC Tanabata Meeting is intended to provide young scientists (under 35 years old) who have not yet made substantial research achievements, but who have came up with marvelous, sparkling ideas, with an opportunity to present their research results. Before going into details, I would like to explain the background and basic idea behind this event.

1. 1.  Historical background Dissolution of GSCenter and establishment of GSComplex

The RIKEN Genomic Sciences Center (GSC) evolved out of my research work, and I served as the first GSC director. The center grew over time but was finally closed in March 2008. Over the decade of its existence GSC attracted considerable attention within the international scientific community, as can be seen by the many articles related to GSC that appeared in Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html). If you search the journal for Genomic Sciences Center, you will see more than 150 news items, evaluations and original papers).
In order to preserve GSC's highly evaluated and well-known international name, Professor Ryoji Noyori, RIKEN's president, decided to rename and redevelop GSC using the same acronym. This is how the virtual organization RIKEN Genomic Sciences Research Complex (GSC) came to be established in April 2008, and I am currently serving as the Director of the new GSComplex.

2. 2.  The Aim of the GSC Tanabata Meeting . A Gateway to Success for Young Scientists

GSComplex was set up without any specific fixed budget, but I have a longstanding policy of using my head when there is no money, and I thought of the GSC Tanabata Meeting as a novel way to gather worldwide attention. Still, our budget and staff are very limited, and while the former GSC was certainly highly regarded internationally, it did exist for only 10 years. What we can do is limited so we must be sharply focused. And this is how I got the idea for an interactive session to encourage the young scientists who will carry forward the next generation of the life sciences. The theme for this year's program is: Young Scientists and the Next Generation of the Life Sciences.

1. 1. In principle, no older than age 35
2. 2. Without substantial research achievements, but with marvelous and sparkling ideas
3. 3. Have a unique and brilliant idea with great potential
4. 4. Discovered or invented a methodology or model relevant to the life sciences
5. 5. Produced research results that will contribute to the future of the life sciences, made a discovery, or invented a methodology or model

Our aim is that many young scientists will consider it an honor to be asked to make a presentation at the GSC Tanabata Meeting, and that they will perceive the event as an important gateway to success.
In addition, I wanted to attract brilliant young Japanese scientists abroad who are researching in other countries and provide them an opportunity to give a presentation here in Japan.
I hope many young scientists will be encouraged and motivated if they can win recognition for even just one unique idea. The GSC Tanabata meeting is not a forum to pass out awards but to encourage young researchers and help them to become known in the scientific community.

3. 3.  A GSComplex Forum for the Future

Even though the research objective of GSC was genomics, the underlying innovative ideology was to use cutting-edge physics and chemistry methodologies to tackle diverse life science issues. In particular our challenge was to apply successful data-driven and instrument-driven paradigms from other sciences to the life sciences. The result was the creation of an internationally recognized state-of-the-art research center.
The field of genomics is extensive, however, and if we deal only with genomics we will quickly be buried beneath the international achievements that are being made in the rest of the world. As I have already pointed out, this is why we must be sharply focused. I believe the GSC Tanabata Meeting's purpose of providing a forum for the unexpected and outstanding ideas of young scientists is a unique focus that should gather worldwide attention.
This first year, for reasons of both time and money, we have restricted our target to scientists (of any nationality) working in Japanese research institutions and to Japanese scientists who are now overseas. As the idea for this project takes hold, however, and we have the good fortune to be able to expand the event on a global scale, I believe we will be making a giant step toward internationalizing the life sciences of Japan.