01/14/2025

On December 13, COI-NEXT Kawasaki (CHANGE)3rd Annual Symposium “Building a Society of Health and Longevity -CHANGE Our Future Together-“ was held at STATION CONFERENCE KAWASAKI. To achieve the “Society of Health and Longevity” envisioned by the project, innovation is essential not only on the part of care providers, such as caregivers, but also on the part of care recipients. The symposium started with an overview of CHANGE presented by Project Leader (PL) Takahiro Ichiki, followed by the first session on new drug modalities related to building a resilient body, focusing on extracellular vesicles and mRNA medicines. We invited Dr. Sai Kiang Lim, a world-renowned researcher in extracellular vesicles and Research Director at Paracrine Therapeutics in Singapore, to deliver a keynote lecture. Additionally, Project Associate Professor Takahiro Seo / The University of Tokyo gave a presentation on exosome isolation, purification, and characterization techniques, and Professor Keiji Itaka / Institute of Science Tokyo spoke about the development of mRNA therapeutics.

Following these presentations, a panel discussion moderated by Professor Shintaro Sengoku / Institute of Science Tokyo took place, featuring Dr. Takao Inoue, Director of National Institute of Health Sciences, and Mr. Shiro Akinaga, President of NANO MRNA Co., Ltd., as panelists. The discussion focused on the challenges of implementing mRNA medicines in society.

In the second session, four high school students, who are key participants in the changes driven by Project CHANGE, took the stage (two from Senzoku Gakuen High School and two from Kawasaki city high school for Science and Technology). The session was moderated by Ms. Kaoru Sakata, a chemistry instructor at a major preparatory school and the host of 8bitNews “SCIENCE NEWS”,  who drew out their thoughts on the project and facilitated a discussion with researchers in the audience.

The symposium was attended by 251 participants from a wide range of fields, including medical and engineering researchers, healthcare professionals, and citizens. Special guests included Dr. Nobuyuki Osakabe from JST and Mr. Hiroki Hirano from MEXT, who both delivered greetings. Additionally, a video message from Mayor Norihiko Fukuda of Kawasaki was presented.

A detailed report of the symposium will be published in the March issue of Sangyo-Joho Kawasaki (Industry Information Kawasaki) on March 1.

Photographs
Top row, from left: Dr. Sai Kiang Lim (keynote speech), Dr. Naohiro Seo (lecture 1), Dr. Keishi Itaka (lecture 2)
Bottom left: Group photo
Middle right: The four high school students who participated in the second session
Bottom right: Project Leader Takahiro Ichiki responding to questions from the high school students

＜Opening and Closing Remarks by Distinguished Guests＞

From left:
Dr. Kazunori Kataoka, Vice Chairman of Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion,
iCONM Center Director, and Professor Emeritus / The University of Tokyo (Opening)
Dr. Nobuyuki Osakabe, Program Officer of JST COI-NEXT (Group2)  (Guest)）
Mayor Norihiko Fukuda of Kawasaki (Video message)
Mr. Hiroki Hirano, Director of University-Industry Collaboration and Regional R&D Division, Science and Technology Policy Bureau, MEXT (Guest)
Mr. Takeshi Suzuki, Chairman of Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion (Closing)