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Dear Colleagues: I would like to express my sincere gratitude for giving me this opportunity to be able to announce the 16th JSGT Annual Meeting, which will be held from 1-3, July 2010 at the Tochigi-ken General Culture Center. The theme of the 16th JSGT Annual Meeting is "Perseverance and Innovation for Gene Therapy Breakthroughs". As we are all aware, basic research and clinical applications of gene therapy have been under a cloud and facing difficulties in finding a way to break through this situation. Even the United States of America that's been leading the research ever since is facing a rough time, especially venture companies in developing gene therapy technologies. When I looked from the past to present, I came to think that the major reason for not gaining enough success clinically is that the basic technologies are still insufficient. Nevertheless, I still think there is a promising future in gene therapy or should I say, new medical technology involving gene transfer technologies, if we hold on and don't lose hope in pursuing the goals that each of us have set and by doing so, it will eventually lead us to more innovative technologies or ideas which I believe it would become a breakthrough to overcome the adversities. On the other hand, to activate our country's research in gene therapy, there is a need for more vivid involvement of young investigators to the society. With this in mind, I promise you the program of the 16th Annual Meeting to be fully interesting and attractive enough so that many of these young scientists would want to participate. I will organize this meeting not only as a place to report on the proceedings of existing researches but also a place where researchers from relating fields like "Cell therapy" and "Regenerative medicine" can participate, present their latest studies and exchange lively discussions from various angles, on the development of advanced medicine with the applications of gene transfer technologies. Additionally, there will be Special Lectures by Prof. Barrie Carter who is the next President of ASGCT, lecturing on the clinical usability of AAV vectors, and Prof. Richard Morgan of NCI who will be lecturing on the "Engineered T cell therapy" which is recently gathering attention. To appeal the importance of International cooperation and International exchanges is essential for further developments and I sincerely hope that this program would gather many young investigators and scientists from overseas, especially from Asia. Finally, in Tochigi, there is the world heritage of "Shrines and Temples of Nikko Toshogu" where the mausoleum of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu lies, and there is a famous word by him carved in a monument, "Life is like a long journey with a heavy load. Let your step be slow and steady ---". If I compared "life" to "gene therapy", then his words would become a guiding precept for us to follow. I look forward to welcoming you in Utsunomiya and I assure you an outstanding experience of scientific discussions and enjoyment. See you in Utsunomiya, July 2010! @ Sincerely yours, Keiya OZAWA, M.D., Ph.D. President of the 16th JSGT-2010 |
Precepts of Shogun 'Ieyasu'
The World Heritage "Nikko"
"OYA Stone Museum"