Korea-Japan Blood and Vessel Symposium in Kumamoto held on July 11th, 2023

July 13 2023

 Korea-Japan Blood and Vessel Symposium in Kumamoto was held on July 11th, 2023 at IRCMS, Kumamoto University. The symposium was jointly organized by Institute for Japanese vascular biology and medicine organization (JVBMO), Korean Society for Vascular Biology and Medicine (KVBM) and IRCMS.

 The symposium was organized as a pre-event to the 5th AAVBM, which will be held in Seoul, Korea from September 14th to 15th. The theme of the symposium was to continue of Japanese and Korean vascular biology exchange collaborations between Japan and Korea in the field of vascular biology and accelerate the exchange among the younger generation.

 The symposium started with the opening remarks by Prof. Hiroki Kurihara, the professor of The University of Tokyo. Throughout the symposium, there were 5 speakers from respected research institutes in Japan and Korea to share their state-of-art research projects. After the presentation, Prof. Tetsuro Watabe, president of JVBMO, delivered a speech on behalf of the JVBMO and then Prof. Chi Dae Kim, President of KVBM, gave a speech on behalf of the AAVBM and introduced each community to participants. Prof. Takizawa, director of IRCMS, introduced IRCMS and expressed sincere thanks to the members of comittee, organizers and guests. Closing remarks by Dr. Yuichiro Arima of IRCMS closed the symposium with a good outlook for future collaborations.

 Approximately 90 researchers from Korea and Japan including the speakers, had actively discussed their ongoing projects and future research collaborations throughout the symposium.

(1) Opening Remarks
Prof. Hiroki Kurihara The University of Tokyo

(2) Talk 1- Talk4
Prof. Akiyasu Iwase The University of Tokyo "Fate determination mechanisms during cardiac development revealed by single-cell multiomics"	Prof. Junyeop Lee Asan Medical Center "Pericyte dynamics determine the occurrence of vascular diseases in the retina"		Prof. Norika Liu Jikei University "Discovery of a novel origin of cardiac tissue macrophages: molecular mechanism and significance."	Prof. Kyungsun Heo Chungnam National University "Alteration in mitochondrial function to regulate vascular smooth muscle cell plasticity"

(3) Keynote
Prof. Atsushi Hirao Kanazawa University "Cell fate decision by metabolic regulation in normal and malignant hematopoiesis"
(4) Coffee Break
Research presentation	Discussions with researchers	Prof. Lee and Prof. Takizawa
(5) Greetings
Prof. Hitoshi Takizawa IRCMS, Kumamoto University	Prof. Tetsuro Watabe JVBMO, Tokyo Medical and Dental University	Prof. Chi Dae Kim KVBM, AAVBM, Pusan University
(7) Closing Remarks
Assoc. Prof. Yuichiro Arima IRCMS, Kumamoto University