On November 15, 2013, President Nakamura delivered a lecture about JST’s initiatives toward promotion of stem cell research as well as implementation of regenerative medicine at the ‘2013 World Alliance Forum’, held in San Francisco.
The ‘2013 World Alliance Forum’ was hosted by the Alliance Forum Foundation (AFF) and the Government of Japan (Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco). Professor Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University, the recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, was invited to be the keynote speaker, and the forum was held under the theme of “The Future of Stem Cells - How will Stem Cell Research Change our Society? -”. It is believed that stem cell research, such as iPS cell technology developed by Dr. Yamanaka, will bring about changes not only to the pharmaceutical industry but also various fields in our society. In the forum, spirited discussions on the latest research outcomes and future anticipation as well as the challenges of industrialization and regulations took place through lectures by industry-academia-government parties from both Japan and United States.
Along with the lecture he gave in the forum, President Nakamura visited several companies and institutes, relevant to stem cell research, around San Francisco. He heard the current status on R&D, toured the facilities, and exchanged opinions on the whole concept of translational research at SanBio Inc., Stanford University Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, StemCells Inc., and Gladstone Institutes.
JST, an integrated organization of science and technology in Japan, establishes an infrastructure for the entire process from the creation of knowledge to the return to the society. For more information, visit http://www.jst.go.jp/EN/