Report on the 29th annual meeting of the Japanese Association for Developmental and Comparative Immunology (JADCI), August 24-26, 2017, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo (Local Organizer: Prof. Masanori Kasahara, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University. Local Secretary-Treasurers: Dr. Yukiko Miyatake and Ms. Akiko Hirakawa, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University)
The 29th annual meeting of the Japanese Association for Developmental and Comparative Immunology (JADCI) was held on August 24-26, 2017, at the Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo. Forty-two scientists including graduate students attended this meeting to discuss the host defense mechanisms of invertebrates and vertebrates. The meeting featured two special lectures, an educational lecture and a symposium. Additionally, there were 20 general oral presentations, which were followed by active discussion.
Special lecture 1: Prof. Teizo Fujita (Fukushima Prefectural General Hygiene Institute). Complement lectin pathway and its role.
Prof. Fujita presented the summary of his long-term studies on the complement lectin pathway and its role. He discovered a new serine protease, MASP (MBL-associated-serine protease), which binds to mannose-binding lectin, and proposed a new complement activation pathway, now known as the lectin pathway.
Special lecture 2: Prof. Yousuke Takahama (Institute for Advanced Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima). Development and function of thymic epithelial cells.
Prof. Takahama reviewed T cell development focusing on his work on the development and function of thymic epithelial cells. In particular, he presented his recent work on the role of thymoproteasomes in CD8+ T cell development.
Educational lecture: Dr. Masayuki Hirano (Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University). Evolution of innate lymphoid cells in vertebrates.
Symposium: “A new perspective on comparative immunology”
SI1. Investigation of the mechanisms for infection of hepatocytes by malarial sporozoites
(Dr. Tomoko Ishino, Ehime University, PROS, Div. Mol. Parasitol.)
SI2. Immune system involved in the tadpole tail resorption of Xenopus
(Dr. Yumi Izutsu, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Niigata University)
SI3. Immunity provides a new insight into mutualism
(Dr. Yoshitomo Kikuchi, AIST Hokkaido, Bioproduction Research Institute)
SI4. Antigen receptor gene assembly in jawless vertebrates
(Dr. Fumikiyo Nagawa, Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo)
SI5. Tumour resistance in induced pluripotent stem cells derived from naked mole-rats
(Dr. Kyoko Miura, Hokkaido Univ., Institute for Genetic Medicine, Biomedical Animal Research Laboratory)
General presentations:
Twenty oral presentations addressing various aspects of host defenses in a variety of species were made on August 24 and 25.
The winner of this year’s ‘Furuta Excellent Scientific Papers Award’ was Dr. Kouki Maki at the Graduate School of Systems Life Sciences (Transglutaminase-catalyzed incorporation of polyamines masks the DNA-binding region of the transcription factor Relish), and Dr. Hiroyuki Kenmoku at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University (Neural control of the maintenance of the gut integrity in Drosophila adults).
The winner of the ‘Furuta Young Investigator Award’ was Dr. Yuta Matsuura at National Research Institute of Aquaculture. He was awarded this prize for his work entitled ‘Identification of a serine protease involved in cytotoxicity of fish leukocytes’.
