Meeting Report: The third NINS-Princeton joint Symposium “EmergingLifesciences”

Department of Quantitative and Imaging Biology (QIB), Headquarters for Co-Creation
Strategy, NINS
Naoto Ueno

The joint symposium with Princeton University was held on 22 and 23 March2023 at Princeton University, USA, based on an international collaborationagreement signed by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences in 2010. Both thefirst and second symposia were held in Okazaki, but this is the first joint
symposium to be held at the University. As the title of the symposium suggests,
the theme covered a wide range of cutting-edge topics in the life sciences, fromchemistry, biophysics and bioengineering to cell and molecular biology (Fig. 1).
The host, Prof Jared Toettcher (Dept. Mol. Biol.), was of great help in thepreparation of the symposium. Eight speakers from Princeton University andseven from Japan, including NINS, gave lectures. In addition, as a special featureof the conference, Dr Reiko Toyama, Program Officer at the National Institutes

of Health (NIH), USA, spoke about the NIH's support program for youngresearchers. Four young researchers from Japan also gave poster presentations,and the NIH provided travel support to three of them (see reports of the threebelow). Three of them, including two, were asked to give oral presentations. Thequality of the presentations (Fig. 2) was high, and the 16 poster presentations
were very lively (Fig. 3), which we believe helped to achieve the objective of thesymposium, which was also to promote exchange between young researchers inJapan and the USA. On the next day after the symposium, Japanese researchersvisited laboratories of their choice for observation and discussion. One of theoutcomes of the symposium was the opportunity to communicate with postdocsand graduate students and to exchange information with them.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Liaison and InternationalAffairs Section and the Financial Affairs Section for their hard work in preparing
and executing the budget for this symposium, which was held at the end of theacademic year, as well as Ms Ellen Brindle-Clark and Ms Mami Akiyama,assistants at Princeton University, for setting up the venue and the reception onthe day of the symposium. I would also like to thank Ms Ellen Brindle-Clark andMs Mami Akiyama, assistants at Princeton University, for their hard work insetting up the venue and for their help at the reception desk.

National Institute for Basic Biology
Hiroshi Koyama, Assistant Professor

Attended The 3rd NINS-Princeton Joint Symposium. In addition to collecting
information and presenting my own research, I visited two laboratories at
Princeton University and exchanged information with their researchers.
In the meeting, Dr Nelson showed that the mechanical mechanism of lungmorphogenesis, which is the interaction between epithelial cell sheets and smoothmuscle tissue, differs between species. The importance of the interaction between
the epithelial cell sheet and the smooth muscle layer was also evident in myresearch on the morphogenesis of the fallopian tube, which I recognized as afundamental element in organogenesis. In the presentation of thyroid
morphogenesis by Dr Shindo, there was a discussion on possible mechanicalmechanisms of cavity formation in the tissue. Dr Levine and others presented
their research on how enhancers can interact with promoters in the regulation ofgene expression. Dr Levine and colleagues have raised the possibility that liquid-liquid phase separation could explain the question of why enhancers can interact
with promoters in the regulation of gene expression. It was astonished by thatrecent work on liquid-liquid phase separation provided a clear clue to a major
problem that has persisted for decades.
During a visit to Dr Nelson's laboratory, I was told that they are carrying out
multicellular simulations using a particle model. I was aware that Dr Nelson
herself had introduced about my research to her laboratory, and that my approachfor estimating the interaction forces between particles was received with a certain
amount of surprise. I believe that my estimation method would be applied tovarious tissues and organs.
During my visit to Dr Brangwynne's laboratory, I was introduced to research
exploring biological phenomena involving liquid-liquid phase separation, andfound that it occurs in more physiological contexts than I had realized. On theother hand, my question was a physical one: how can molecules such as proteins
and RNA have droplet-like behavior as a result of condensation? The particle
model is a framework that applies to cells, molecules and atoms, but it is notobvious that condensates of particles can have liquid-like behavior because they
are easily jammed. If they are modelled as a polymer made up of a series ofparticles rather than as mere particles, they can reproduce liquid-like behavior.
The above-mentioned laboratory, which we visited, has a wide range of humanresources in areas such as experiments, engineering such as macrofluidics, theory
and mathematics, and is developing research that systematically links these areas.
Such laboratories are probably few and far between in Japan, and I think it isnecessary to have the power to gather human resources and the intelligence to linkthem together.

National Institute for Physiological Sciences
Toshikazu Miyata, Ph.D. student

By attending the NINS-Princeton Joint Symposium, I was exposed to a lot of
cutting-edge research being conducted by both NINS and Princeton University.
The symposium covered a wide range of important topics in the life sciences,including genomics, single molecule imaging, transcriptome analysis,
mathematical modelling, cell dynamics, organogenesis and neurobiology. All thepresentations were very interesting, informative and fruitful for futurecollaborations, such as joint research. The symposium was a lively discussion andprovided a good opportunity for me to think about the content of thediscussions, even though I do not have deep knowledge about the talks fromoutside my field. Also, there was a lively exchange of opinions among thestudents and researchers who participated in the symposium about the poster
presentations, and the various comments and advice I received were a great
motivation for me to continue my own research in the future. In addition, theopportunity to hear from Japanese students currently studying at Princeton
University and to obtain information on the university environment and living
conditions in Princeton also helped me to think about studying abroad.
During the laboratory visit after the symposium, I was able to visit thelaboratory of Dr Jesse Gomez, who conducts research on human brain imaging
using MRI, which is deeply related to my research theme, and was given a tourof the laboratory and participated in lab meetings. I was able to see the research
environment at Princeton University. I was also able to interact with the lab
members and get a feel for the atmosphere of the lab, which was very helpfulwhen considering studying abroad in my future research career.
Being able to participate in a symposium like this not only allowed me to learn
about a wide range of research fields and gain new knowledge about my own
research, but it was also very helpful in considering my future career path as ascientist. I am grateful for this valuable opportunity and I would like to work
hard in my future research activities.

Exploratory Research Center on Life and Living Systems (ExCELLS) andNational Institute for Basic Biology
Yusuke Mii, Assistant Professor

I participated in the Joint Symposium entitled Emerging Life Sciences, which
was organized by Dr Ueno, and it was my first visit to Princeton University.
Princeton University is a university with a long history, and I learnt about its
history during the campus tour given by Prof. Yibin Kang, who gave a seminar at
the NIBB shortly before this symposium. I was surprised to learn that Princeton
University was established before the establishment of the United States ofAmerica. We also had the opportunity to eat breakfast in the historical Hall as acampus cafeteria, which gave us a glimpse of campus life.
The symposium was an opportunity to concentrate on cutting-edge science,with topics ranging from developmental and molecular biology, which are close
to my specialties, to biophysics and bioengineering. I was particularly impressedby Dr Michael Levine's talk on transcriptional regulation, including his

presentation style. Dr Eric Wieschaus, a Nobel Prize winner, also joined in thediscussions at times, which made me realize once again what a fantastic place forscience this is. It was very meaningful to have the opportunity to interact withup-and-coming researchers from Japan, including Drs Fukaya and Sawai fromthe University of Tokyo, Dr Shindo from Kumamoto University, and Dr
Akiyama from the Biohistory Research Hall. I was also given the opportunity topresent my research on 'planar cell polarity', which I have been working on as aJST-PRESTO project. Dr Danelle Devenport, who is conducting excellent
research on planar cell polarity at Princeton University, was there, and it was agreat occasion for me to be able to visit her lab, introduce my research to her andhave a discussion with her. Science is also a human activity, so humanconnections are very important, and I am very grateful to have been given thisopportunity to interact with many people at this symposium.