NAIST Global COE International Symposium 2010 "Plasticity in Development and Evolution"
The 6th Global COE International Symposium, on "Plasticity in Development and Evolution," was held on November 11-12, 2010 in Millennium Hall, NAIST.
This Symposium was organized by three associate professors, Mitsuhiro Aida, Tetsu Kinoshita and Hajime Ogino, who are the leaders of NAIST GCOE Special Research Groups. The theme of the Symposium was the plasticity - in development, gene regulation, epigenetics and genomic structures - which underlies the evolution of morphological and functional diversity in plants and animals. Five eminent scientists from overseas and seven domestic scientists including the organizers gave presentations on their leading-edge research.
A total of 368 participants attended the Symposium. This included 53 students from CAS-IGDB (China), UCD-CBS (USA) and NAIST-BS (Japan), who had attended the preceding GCOE International Student Workshop and joined the Symposium to present their work in a poster session. The discussions were strikingly active during the sessions and also at coffee breaks, which appeared to reflect the cross-disciplinary character of the Symposium theme that covered a wide range of topics from evolution and development to environmental adaptation. At the mixer in the evening of the first day, the participants enjoyed scientific and cross-cultural interactions in a convivial atmosphere.
In her closing remarks, Professor Carol Erickson (UCD-CBS) reviewed the international activities that have taken place between CAS-IGDB, UCD-CBS and NAIST-BS under the GCOE program - including this Symposium and the International Student Workshop - and gave an outstanding evaluation and heartwarming encouragement to our projects.