" Quantitative Bioimaging "

The 10th NIBB-EMBL Joint Symposium was held from March 17th to the 19th of 2013, on the topic of "Quantitative Bioimaging". Though the symposium was originally planned to be held in March 2011, it was indefinitely postponed due to the effects of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. It is with great pleasure then, that we saw the fruits of those preparations finally realized. Following after the 9th Joint Symposium’s work, this symposium was held with the goal of facilitating deeper exploration of the state of imaging in biology, with cutting edge techniques in quantitative biological imaging, and areas showing potential for new development, being particular topics of vigorous discussion. The symposium was host to 10 speakers from abroad and 15 from within Japan, presenting on a variety of subjects including optical probes, new microscope technology, advances in super resolution microscopy, mathematical modeling, and 3D biology. After each presentation extra time was set aside for comprehensive discussions of the entire session, leading to enthusiastic debate. Inside the oral presentation venue space was set aside for poster presentations. This led to seeing many thought provoking discussions of the posters, which were not limited to the poster presentation session on the first evening, but also took place during breaks between sessions and during meal times. This was an unusual meeting with many young scientists and researchers from fields other than biology, such as research fields like mathematics, physics, optics as well as engineers and technicians from industry microscope manufacturers. From the impressions of the participants from both Japan and abroad, they were stimulated to think about new possibilities in future research due to the environment being different from their normal scientific networks. With the participants coming from various academic backgrounds, ranging from students to expert researchers at the forefront of their fields, the open and natural debates and discussions were diverse and energetic; giving life to the smaller event hall and leaving an unforgettable impression on those who joined in.

Toshihiko Fujimori (NIBB)