The 8th Kobe University Brussels European Centre Symposium
EU-Japan Initiative for Excellence - Strategic Research Partnershipin Medicine, Biotechnology and Social Sciences

Organised jointly with Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Tuesday 21 November 2017
Vrije Universiteit Brussels
SPEAKERS AND MODERATORS BIOGRAPHIESAND ABSTRACTS
Opening

9:30-10:00

Chair
Prof. Matsuto Ogawa, Executive Vice-President, Kobe University
Opening Addresses Prof. Caroline Pauwels, Rector, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Prof. Hiroshi Takeda, President, Kobe University
H.E. Mr. Kazuo Kodama, Ambassador of Japan to the European Union
Dr. Philippe Vialatte, Deputy Head of Unit, International Cooperation Directorate,
Directorate General for Research and Innovation, European Commission
Parallel Session 1

10:00-13:30

U-Residence large meeting room
Innovation in Higher Education and Social Sciences: Regional Culture and Global Challenges
Parallel Session 2

10:00-13:30

U-Residence small meeting room
Microorganisms in biotechnology
Parallel Session 3

14:30-18:00

U-Residence large meeting room
Migration and Community Building
Parallel Session 4

14:30-18:00

U-Residence small meeting room
Healthy and Active Ageing: a Key Role for Physical Exercise
Closing Remarks

18:00-18-15
Organiser: Kobe University
Co-Organiser: Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Parallel Session 1

10:00-13:30
U-Residence large meeting room

Innovation in Higher Education and Social Sciences: Regional Culture and Global Challenges
Chair: Noriyuki Inoue
Executive Vice President, Kobe University (Japan)
Professor in the Graduate School of Law, Kobe University, Japan. Awarded MSc
and PhD from Osaka University, Japan in 1985 and 1996, respectively. After
working for Osaka Gakuin University as assistant and associate professor, joined
Kobe University as an academic member in 1995. From October 2009 to
September 2011, worked as the Dean of the Graduate School of Law, and from
April 2013 as the Executive Vice President of Kobe University in Charge of International Exchange andInternal Control. His research focuses on Constitutional Law and European Law.
Chang Zhu
Department of Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)
Prof. dr. Chang Zhu is a professor in Educational Sciences at Vrije Universiteit
Brussel (VUB) since 2010. Prof. Zhu coordinates the LEAD (Erasmus+ Capacity
Building in Higher Education) project (from 2015-2018) as its Project Manager;
and from 2013-2016 she was project coordinator of the EU-China DOC project
under the EU Erasmus Mundus Program. She is the director of the EU-China
Higher Education Research Center (ECHE), the Online and Blended Learning Competence Center, and theBelgian Director of the Confucius Institute at VUB. She is the promoter and principal investigator of several
key fundamental research projects in the fields of higher education, internationalisation, university
governance, academic leadership, international academic mobility, student competence and literacy
development, educational innovation, online and blended learning, MOOC, ICT-supported learning and social
inclusion. She completed her PhD research at Ghent University. Before that she was a lecturer at theCommunication University of China; and consultant for the World Bank and Asian Development Bank Missionin China, engaged in development projects in China.

Innovations in higher education: trends and challenges
Abstract:	  Higher Education Institutions are facing challenges such as globalisation, ranking, societal needs,
new technologies and student changes. Innovations of higher education are inevitable in order to respond tothe changing needs of the society, the internal and external environment, and to improve quality andpractices. New learning and teaching approaches are needed in order to enhance the development of student
competences. Research innovations are crucial for universities to address issues of concern for the changing
society and technologies. University leadership is relevant and important in order to strengthen the role ofuniversities to lead the innovations in research and education in the global and international contexts.

Hideki Iwabuchi
Counsellor (Science, Technology and Education),
Mission of Japan to the European Union
Before arrival to Brussels in July 2017, Mr. Iwabuchi experienced a series of
positions in the Government of Japan, including: Director of the Office ofInternational Planning, Higher Education Bureau, Japanese Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT); Secretary to the
Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, Cabinet Office of Japan;
Director of the Office of Basic Research Programs, Research Promotion Bureau, MEXT; and First Secretary for
Science and Technology, Embassy of Japan in Seoul (Korea). He got his master degrees in Syddansk
Universitet in Odense (Denmark) [International Economics, 2004], and Tokyo Institute of Technology[Engineering, 1997].

Overview of Academic/Research Collaboration between Japan and EU/European Countries
Abstract:	  First, the current status of collaboration is summarized based on the data.
Student exchange: While Japanese students in Europe decreased in these 20 years, European students inJapan gradually increased. But the latter is still much less than the former. Smaller European countries may
have difficulty in attracting Japanese students.
Research Collaboration: Japanese researchers write academic papers more frequently with Europeans than
10 years ago. By research field, co-authorship is frequent in environmental and medical sciences, but
relatively less so in materials and engineering.
Japan-China-Korea: Compared to Chinese and Korean students, Japanese students tend to enroll in European
universities, and Japanese researchers tend to collaborate with Europeans.
Second, the policy trend on collaboration is illustrated.
Historical view: Communication of intellectuals between Japan and Europe has continued for these five
centuries. In the 19th century, the Japanese government invited many experts from and sent many students
to Europe.
Leaders’ Vision: Japan-EU Summit recently endorsed a Joint Vision on the new strategic partnership in
research and innovation. Following the vision, several new schemes for cooperation were established.
Open to the World: European Commission encouraged the collaboration with Japan in 23 calls under
WP2018-20 (Horizon 2020). The research collaboration is expected to increase.
Finally, the future agenda for collaboration is discussed.

Marlène Bartès
Policy Officer, DG for Education and Culture, European Commission
Marlène Bartès joined the European Commission in 2013. She is part of the teamresponsible for international cooperation and programmes in the field of educationand training, focusing on collaboration with countries outside the EU. Her
geographical responsibilities include the Western Balkans and Asia. Before joining
the Commission, Marlène worked for the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA)in Brussels, a dynamic think tank in the area of international cooperation in higher education. Her passion forinternational affairs started with her studies, which guided her from France to Japan and Canada.

EU-Japan Cooperation in Higher Education- Addressing Global Challenges, Together
Abstract:	  Japan and the EU share similar objectives in the area of education – such as international
cooperation, increasing access to higher education through scholarships, or strengthening science andtechnology – and are therefore natural partners for cooperation in education and research.
Since 2014, the EU opened up even more opportunities to Japan thanks to the new generation of EU
programmes, namely Erasmus+ and Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, which support the internationalisationof higher education systems, increase intercultural understanding and improve employability in a globalised
and knowledge-based society. However, Japanese participation in EU education programmes has to datebeen rather modest. In her presentation, Marlène will outline current and future cooperation between the EU
and Japan in the field of higher education, with a particular focus on Japanese participation in Erasmus+ andMarie Skłodowska-Curie actions and ways to improve it.

Helmut Staubmann
Dean, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universität Innsbruck (Austria)
Helmut Staubmann is Professor for Social Theory and Cultural Sociology and Deanof the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universität Innsbruck. He waspresident of the Austrian Sociological Association. He held visiting researcher
positions at UCLA, the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University andtaught at several European, Asian, and American universities. His research
focuses on conceptual and methodological foundations of social sciences, the intersection between social
theory and aesthetics and on issues of higher education and research.

Innovation in Higher Education and Research: Regional Culture and Global Challenges
Abstract:	  There are two threads that make up the fabric of the situation to which institutions of higher
education and research and professional organizations are required to react: One thread is the technologicaladvancement that resulted in new research tools and communication technologies. The other one is the
rapidly increasing cooperation and exchange between scholars that finally reached the stage of a global
university system.
In my presentation I will report about the developments of professional social science organizations in Austria
and about a planned joint case study of Kobe University, the University of Innsbruck, and the Management
Center Innsbruck on the specific transformations these three universities are undergoing and planning in theface of globalization processes.

Raf Vanderstraeten
Professor and Director, Centre for Social Theory, Ghent University (Belgium)Awarded PhD from Leuven University, Belgium, in 1994, and Habilitation from the
University of Bielefeld, Germany in 2004. He is currently also affiliated with theHelsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (Finland) and the Department of Sociologyof the University of Chicago (USA). With Kaat Louckx, he recently published
Sociology in Belgium: A Sociological History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

The schooled society: the geography of education in Belgium, 1961-2011
Abstract: The expansion of university-based education is linked with the rise of the contemporary ‘knowledge
society’ or ‘schooled society’. But as the expected amount of education has quickly spiraled upward, the‘dropout problem’ for people who quit school at an early age was also created. Against this background, I will
present an analysis of geographical inequalities at the top and the bottom end of the human capital
distribution across Belgium in the period 1961-2011. In spite of the expansion of university education, thesegregation of university trained human capital within Belgium and its regions (Flanders and Wallonia)
remained high throughout this period. While the shares of adults without educational credentials clearlydecreased in Belgium, this decrease goes hand in hand with growing divergences between the Flemish andthe Walloon regions. Altogether, these findings clarify the ways our society is currently organizing itself on thebasis of educationally gained knowledge. On the basis of these findings, this presentation will also show how
the global rise of the ‘knowledge society’ is currently leading to new divergences between regional cultures.

Simon Kaner
Director, Centre for Japanese Studies, University of East Anglia (UK)Dr. Simon Kaner is Director of the Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of
East Anglia and Head of the Centre for Archaeology and Heritage at the Sainsbury
Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. He is an archaeologist
specialising in the prehistory of Japan and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of
London since 2005, His recent publications include An Illustrated Companion to

Japanese Archaeology (edited, with Werner Steinhaus) (Oxford, Archaeopress, 2016) and he is currently
editing the Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Korea and Japan. Simon is Research Fellow in theJapanese Section, Department of Asia, The British Museum, and Fellow of the McDonald Institute forArchaeological Research at the University of Cambridge. He is Co-Editor of the Japanese Journal ofArchaeology, Series Editor for the Archaeopress series Comparative Perspectives on Japanese Archaeology
and Series Co-Editor for the Springer series The Science of the History of Humanity in Asia and the Pacific.

A new approach to delivering Japanese studies: the case of the University of East Anglia
Abstract:	  In this presentation I will introduce a series of initiatives through which the Sainsbury Institute for
the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures and the Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of East Anglia
in the UK are developing innovative approaches to teaching, researching, and engaging local communities
with, Japan. These include: Summer Schools in Japanese Studies and Japanese Arts, Cultures and Heritage;
Widening Participation programmes encouraging more students to consider attending University, using Japanas an attraction; exhibitions about Japan; explicitly comparative research projects relating Japanese examples
to local experiences; and the use of social media to foster new and further interest in Japan. We hope thatthese various initiatives will help create a resilient programme of interdisciplinary Japanese studies at the
University of East Anglia that can withstand the headwinds facing the higher education sector in the UK
generally.

Kiyomitsu Yui
Graduate School of Humanities, Kobe University (Japan)
Kiyomitsu Yui is Professor of Sociology in the Graduate School of Humanities,
and Executive Adviser to the President in Charge of International Collaboration,
and Executive Director, Centre for EU Academic Collaboration, at Kobe
University. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University, and Asian
Chair at Sciences Po. His main research subject is sociological theory from G.H.
Mead via T. Parsons to U. Beck. He has also been interested in the process of modernization, second
modernization, and popular culture in the comparative and global context. His publications include ‘From ‘This
is Not a Pipe’ to ‘This is Not Fukushima’ : Global Disaster and Visual Communication’, in The Consequences of

Global Disasters (ed. by A. Elliott et.al., Routledge 2016) and ‘Multiple Modernities and Japan: Nagai Kafū and
H.G. Wells’, in New Steps in Japanese Studies (Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies Series 5, 2017).

Innovation of Higher Education and internationalization of Japanese Studies: the case of Kobe
University
Abstract:	  In the presentation I will explain and analyze the case of innovation of higher education at Kobe
University, Japan, coping with the globalization of educational systems in the world. In the process of facing
the global impact, the peculiarity of historical, cultural and societal settings of the educational system in eachregion has serious concern. The different responses towards the situation create points of difficulties for the
global accordance and reconciliation to fit each other in the innovative process of higher education.
The higher educational institutes in the world have been challenged by the following different issues
simultaneously: from traditional types of elite education towards more mass education, universal access by
everyone yet at the same time pluralization of the system accessible by different people, and finally and mostrecently globalization, namely comparability and transferability of the units, symbolized by the term Bologna
Process. One of the main social issues of our time in educational fields is how to sufficiently delineate all theseissues and implement and express them in the institutional terms and actual educational programs. In the talkI will introduce some examples of the trials in Kobe such as joint research projects with the University of
Innsbruck and especially Japanese Studies programs taught in English as cooperative academic activities withforeign universities in Europe and the world.
Discussant: Patrick Vittet-Philippe
Advisor, Kobe University Brussels European Centre (Belgium)
Patrick Vittet-Philippe is a recently retired EC official, with a special interest ininternational S&T cooperation, science communication and science diplomacy.
Before joining the EC, he taught at Trinity College Dublin and Merton College
Oxford and was attaché de recherche at the French CNRS. He spent 14 years in the
French Diplomatic Service, as cultural attaché in Tel Aviv, London and New York.
After a time in the EU TV industry, he joined the EC as expert-adviser in Information Society technologies anddigital economy, representing the institution in key international fora and conferences. He moved in 2001 to
DG Research as Press and Communication Officer, responsible, in particular, for commissioning TV magazines
on EU research (e.g. Futuris on Euronews). In 2011 he became Head of the Japan and Russia Desks, where
he organized the ‘EU-Russia Year of Science’, and was directly involved in the preparation of EU-Russia and
EU-Japan Summits. He was appointed last year as adviser to Kobe University European Centre in Brussels,
focusing on the development of joint research projects and academic cooperation between Europe and Japan.

Parallel Session 2

10:00-13:30
U-Residence small meeting room

Microorganisms in Biotechnology
Topic 1: Informatics and Diversity
Chair: Prof. Ken-ichi Yoshida
Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University (Japan)
After a Master obtained at Kyoto University in 1989, he got the position of Assistantprofessor at Fukuyama University in 1990 and obtained a PhD at Kyoto University in
1993. After a Post-Doc experience at INRA, France, from 1996 to 1997, he moved to
Kobe University in 2004 as Associate Professor, and was promoted to Professor ofApplied Microbiology in 2009. He has specialized in functional genomics of bacteria including Bacillus subtilis
and its relatives since the very beginning of his career to date. He was once awarded the prize for"Encouragement of Young Scientists" (2002) and twice the prize for "Excellent papers" from the Japan Society
for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry (2008 and 2014). He served in the Research Promotion
Bureau in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan, as a Program
Officer (Scientific Research Senior Specialist) (2005-2007). Since April 2014 he serves as the Executive
Director of the Kobe University Brussels European Centre .
Michihiro Araki
Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University (Japan)
Professor in the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University and Visiting Professor
in the Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University.
Awarded MS and PhD from Kyoto University in 1998 and 2001 respectively. After
working for Boston University as a research assistant, joined the University of Tokyo,
Kyoto University and Kobe University as an academic member in 2003, 2008 and 2013
respectively. His research focuses on Bioinformatics, Synthetic Biology and Clinical Informatics.

Bioinformatics analyses for designing synthetic metabolic pathways
Abstract:	  The recent progress in synthetic biology has accelerated various modifications in cell processes,
and in particular has enabled us to devise the metabolic pathways to produce various chemicals, including
fuels, plastics, fibers, and pharmaceuticals. In order to produce useful chemicals with higher efficiency, anumber of research projects have been conducted to design novel and/or artificial metabolic pathways, which
requires urgent development in information analysis technology, namely bioinformatics.
We have developed an in silico technology to design metabolic pathways, and a design tool (software) has
been devised. The main features of this tool are listed as follows: i) it can design possible metabolic pathways
whatever the target chemical is intended to be produced, ii) the designed novel metabolic pathways can beevaluated for their efficiency in production of particular compound of interest, iii) this tool can extend thescope of metabolic networks including not only the previously known compounds and enzymes but
alsounknown ones, and iv) for some model organisms, the metabolism can be simulated in the genome-scale
for quantitative analysis. Furthermore, the machine learning and sequence analysis technologies are now
integrated to select appropriate enzyme genes from sequence databases for implementation of practicalmetabolic pathway designing.

Stefan Weckx
Research Group of Industrial Microbiology and Food Biotechnology (IMDO),
Faculty of Sciences and Bioengineering Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Prof. Dr. Stefan Weckx is a tenure track assistant professor on the theme“Genomics in food fermentation processes” at the Department of Bioengineering
Sciences of the Faculty of Sciences and Bioengineering Sciences of Vrije
Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium. He obtained a MSc. in Biochemistryin 1996 and a PhD in Sciences in 2004, both at the University of Antwerp, Belgium.
As a PhD student, he stayed as a Marie-Curie training fellow at the European Bioinformatics Institute in
Hinxton, Cambridge, UK. After obtaining his PhD, he joined the MicroArray Facility of VIB in Leuven, Belgium,
as a postdoc. In 2006, he joined the Research Group of IMDO of VUB, headed by Prof. Dr. ir. Luc De Vuyst, asa postdoc to supervise the molecular (micro)biological research and to start up research on (meta)genomics
and bioinformatics to investigate food fermentation processes. In 2014, he obtained a tenure track position as
assistant professor.

Genomics and metagenomics to investigate fermentation food ecosystems in view of starter
culture selection
Abstract:	  Fermented foods harbour a rich diversity of microorganisms, including for instance lactic acidbacteria, acetic acid bacteria, and yeasts. These microorganisms are involved in the production of specificmetabolites that contribute to special characteristics of these foods, such as antimicrobial activity ororganoleptic properties, as well as to competitiveness and ecosystem adaptation. Over the years, various
spontaneous fermented foods and beverages have been studied to unravel their microbial ecosystemcomposition and metabolic behavior. These studies aimed at the identification of the microbial species
involved in desired ecosystem functions and their possible use as functional starter cultures for controlled
fermentation processes to guarantee specific characteristics of the fermented food products. Recent
advances in next-generation sequencing techniques not only allow analyzing the genomes of functional
starter culture strains, but also provide great opportunities to obtain a more in-depth insight into the species
composition as well as the genetic potential of fermented food ecosystems.
In recent years, the research group IMDO sequenced diverse samples of various food fermentation processes(cocoa, coffee, water kefir, cheese and meat brines, etc.), whether or not obtained as a function of
fermentation time, using an amplicon-based metagenetics and/or shotgun metagenomics approach, allowing
taxonomic and both taxonomic and functional analysis, respectively. Also, the genomes of several of its
potential functional starter cultures were sequenced. Overall, these approaches will help to understandfermented food ecosystem structures and functions, allow fermented food ecosystem reconstructions, andfinally lead to a better supported selection of appropriate functional starter culture strains to performwell-controlled and/or steered food fermentation processes.
Ro Osawa
Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University (Japan)
Professor in the Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University,
Japan. Graduated from the veterinary school of Hokkaido University, Japan.
Awarded PhD (in veterinary medicine) from Queensland University, Australia in
1987 and another PhD (in agricultural science) from Tohoku University, Japanin 1992. After working for Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Australia as a research director between 1988 and1992, Tokushima University as a research assistant between 1993 and 1995, and Kanagawa Prefectural
Health Laboratories as a senior investigator between 1996 and 2000, he joined Kobe University as an
academic member. His research focuses on food and intestinal microbiology.

Development and application of a single-batch fermentation system that simulates humanintestinal microbiota
Abstract:	  In order to study intestinal microbiota and its application for promoting human health, we havedevised the “Kobe University Human Intestinal Microbiota Model” (KUHIMM), based on the single-batch
fermentation system, which allows us to simulate human intestinal microbiota both metagenomically andmetabolically.

KUHIMM is capable of evaluating 1) practical functionality of various food components, 2)

health status of human subjects, and 3) some gene expression of certain bacterial strain in vivo. Sometechnically important aspects and features of the model and its application will be described in the talk.

Topic 2: Metabolism and Regulation
Chair: Stefan Weckx, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)
Eveline Peeters
Research Group of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences and Bioengineering Sciences,
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)
Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering Sciences, Vrije Universiteit
Brussel (VUB), Belgium. Awarded MSc and PhD in bioengineering sciences at VUB
in 2002 and 2007, respectively. My research focuses on microbial gene regulationand synthetic biology.

Expanding synthetic biology to the extremes of life: engineering extremophilic microorganisms
as novel cell factories
Abstract:	  Microbial production of chemicals from renewable biomass is a promising alternative for the(petro-)chemical industry and contributes to a more sustainable bio-economy. Metabolic engineering
approaches, thereby adjusting fluxes in the host metabolism through genetic engineering, enables theconstruction of strains with higher yields. Recently, scientists are complementing this approach by introducing
orthogonal genetic circuits in a bottom-up fashion enabling the engineering of complex functions, such as
product synthesis with fine-tuned multi-gene pathway under biosensing control. Biosensing capabilities alsoenable high-throughput screening of a large number of combinatorially engineered strains for production.
Thus far, most synthetic biology tools and applications have been developed for the commonly used hostorganisms such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli, while the orthogonality and modularity ofsynthetic biology engineering (“plug-and-play”) opens up possibilities to expand towards novel microbial
hosts for which a more limited amount of biological knowledge is available but for which the growing
conditions are more compatible with the envisaged bioprocess. In this context, extremophilic microorganisms
are interesting hosts as they are more likely to withstand harsh manufacturing conditions (e.g. pretreatmentof the feedstock or downstream processing) enabling the development of more cost-efficient consolidated
bioprocesses.

Research in my group focuses on the translation towards non-traditionally used extremophilic hosts, more
specifically archaea such as thermoacidophilic Sulfolobus acidocaldarius growing optimally at pH 2-3 and 75°C.
This translation brings about several challenges: i) a characterized synthetic biology toolbox composed of, forexample, gene expression element libraries and a reporter tool, is unavailable for archaea and ii) allcomponents to be transferred need to possess an inherent thermostability. Our work addresses thesechallenges and aims to successfully introduce a synthetic thermostable metabolic pathway under appropriate
gene expression control as a first proof-of-principle demonstration of the use of S. acidocaldarius as a
production host.
Tomohisa Hasunuma
Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University (Japan)
Professor in the Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe
University, Japan. Awarded Ph.D. from Osaka University in 2004. After working for
Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) as a researcher for
4 years, he joined Kobe University as an academic member. His research has
focused on metabolic analysis and engineering of microorganisms and microalgae
based on multi-omics analysis. His current research interest is the Design-Build-Test-Learn (DBTL)-based
development of recombinant microorganisms for functional-compounds production through the consolidationof biotechnology and information technology. He has published more than 110 papers and 5 book chapters ininternational journals and publications, and filed more than 35 patents. He was awarded the Fermentationand Metabolism Research Prize of Japan Bioindustry Association in 2013 and the Biotechnology
Encouragement Prize of Biotechnology Society of Japan in 2014.

Development of dynamic metabolomics and its application to metabolic engineering
Abstract:	  The in vivo labeling technology with stable isotopic compounds enabled metabolic analysis tocomprehend the turnover of metabolites (this newly developed technology is called "dynamic metabolomics").
Dynamic metabolomics makes it possible to measure not only the accumulation amount of metabolites but
also the rates in the synthesis/degradation of metabolites. Conventionally, metabolic flux analysis (MFA) has
been used as the established method for metabolic analysis, whose principle depends on flux prediction
based on mass balance, however the prediction often does not fit the reality. On the other hand, dynamic
metabolomics has a superior technical advantage over MFA, since it depends on actual measurement of theturnover of metabolites. Recently, dynamic metabolomics allowed us to identify the distribution of carbon
atoms incorporated into cells as well as the bottlenecks in metabolic pathways. In addition, based on the
results, metabolic pathways were successfully engineered to improve productivity of some bio-based
chemical products.
Jürgen Wendland
Research Group of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences and Bioengineering Sciences,
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
2016 -: Professor of Microbiology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
2006 - 2016:

Professor of Yeast Genetics and Yeast Biology & Fermentation

Carlsberg Laboratory, Copenhagen, Denmark2000 - 2006:Friedrich-Schiller University and Leibniz-Institute for Natural

Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans-Knöll-Institute, Jena, Germany

Group leader: Junior Research Group “Fungal Pathogens”
1996 - 1999:

Biozentrum, University Basel, Switzerland; Postdoc at the Dept. of Applied Microbiology

1993 - 1996:

Philipps-University, Marburg, Germany, PhD in Fungal Genetics

1987 - 1993:

Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, Germany; Diploma studies in Biology

The APSES protein Sok2 is a positive regulator of sporulation in Ashbya gossypii
Abstract. Ashbya gossypii is a homothallic, flavinogenic, filamentous ascomycete, which starts overproductionof riboflavin and sporulation at the end of the growth phase. Mating is not required for sporulation and thestandard homothallic laboratory strain is a MATa strain. Here we show that ectopic expression of MATa2 in

Ashbya completely suppresses sporulation and inhibits riboflavin overproduction. A large set of sporulation
specific genes was downregulated by MATa2. Additionally, we found SOK2, but not Msn2, was more than 10x
downregulated in this strain. Deletion of SOK2 strongly reduces riboflavin production and prohibits
sporulation in Ashbya. Promoter truncation analyses defined the IME1 promoter and lacZ reporter geneassays showed that IME1 transcription is not controlled by Sok2. However, global transcriptome analysis
identified IME2 and NDT80 as potential targets of Sok2. This suggests that sporulation in Ashbya may still be
under mating type locus control and is mainly controlled by nutritional signals via the cAMP-dependent
PKA-pathway with SOK2 as a central positive regulator. This contrasts the situation in Saccharomyces

cerevisiae where Sok2 is a repressor of IME1 transcription. Additionally, we provide evidence that sporulation
and riboflavin overproduction in Ashbya are interconnected at the level of transcription via MATa2 and Sok2.
Discussant: Ken-ichi Yoshida, Kobe University (Japan)

Parallel Session 3

14:30-18:00
U-Residence large meeting room

Migration and Community Building

Co-Chair: Kazunari Sakai
Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe University (Japan)
Professor in the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies and Vice Director at theCenter for International Education, Kobe University, Japan. Awarded MA from Tokyo
University of Foreign Studies in 1994 and PhD from Kobe University in 2007. After
working for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology(MEXT) of Japan and Tokyo Institute of Technology, he joined Kobe University as an
academic member. He stayed as an invited professor at Sciences Po, Université Paris Nanterre and Université
Panthéon-Assas Paris II. His research focuses on the EU’s external relations with neighbouring countries,
migration issues across the Mediterranean Sea, and global governance related to migration.
Co-Chair: Kaoru Aoyama
Graduate School of Intercultural Studies , Kobe University (Japan)
Kaoru Aoyama, Ph.D. (2005, University of Essex), is a theoretically informed
empirical sociologist. She currently focuses on gendered work in migration
including care work and sex work and on trafficking, transformation of the intimate
sphere and participatory action research. Her publications include ‘The Sex Industry
in Japan: the Invisible Danger of Public Morals’, in The Routledge Handbook of

Sexuality Studies in East Asia (Mackie and McLelland eds., Routledge, 2015), Asian
Women and Intimate Work (ed. with Ochiai, Brill, 2014; chosen as an Outstanding Academic Title by the
CHOICEAward

2014),

andThai

Migrant

Sex

Workers:

From

Modernisation

toGlobalisation(Palgrave/Macmillan, 2009).

Raffaella Greco Tonegutti
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission
Raffaella Greco Tonegutti is a migration and asylum policy officer at DG Researchand Innovation, European Commission. She holds a PhD in fundamental rights(University of Pisa, Italy), with specialization in migration studies, and a MA in
International Cooperation and Human Rights. Over the last 15 years, Raffaellaworked as a migration, asylum and development expert for the EU (HQ and
Delegations), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Centre for Migration Policy
Development (ICMPD), the United Nations Organization for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and otherorganizations.

EU research agenda on migration
Abstract:	  She will present the WP 2018-2020 of H2020. The focus will be on:•

Global and European governance of migration as well as innovative solutions for integration of
migrants into European host societies.

•

International cooperation, as well as a better understanding and awareness of the role ofinternational development and regional policies.

•

International protection of refugees, the management of forced displacement, and the promotion of
more fact-based and accurate discourses on migration.

•

Effects of migration on social systems, the access to and impact on labour markets and the cultural
integration of third country nationals.

•

Factual information on migration and the regulation of migration of third country nationals, also by
involving migrants and their individual experiences in the shaping of narratives.
Sachi Takaya
Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University (Japan)
Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University
Received PhD from Kyoto University, Japan in 2010. After the JSPS postdoctoral
research fellow and working at Okayama University as an associate professor, shejoined Osaka University as an academic member in 2016. Her research focuses on
migration, especially irregular migration and female migration in Japan.

Why hasn't Japan established migration policy?
Abstract:	  This presentation explores why Japan has not established migration policy for several decades byfocusing on the politics of migration within parliamentary politics as well as civil society. Although the numberof foreign residents in Japan has been increasing and is over 2.4 million in 2017, the Japanese government
will not establish the official migration policy. Therefore, despite the fact of the unofficial “acceptance” ofmigration, the image that Japan is not an immigration country is still pervasive.
To explore the reason for the long-term absence of the policy, this presentation examines the attitudes ofpolitical parties and civil society toward “acceptance” of migration by referring to J. Hollifield’s arguments on
migration policy (Hollifield 1992, 2004). Hollifield demonstrates that the logics of liberalism, or economic,
political, and juridical logics, shape migration policies in contradictory ways. The presentation analyzes how
the opinions based on these logics conflict within parties and civil society. Then, it discusses that these
splitting opinions prevent parties and civil society from proposing the establishment of migration policy, whichkeeps the unofficial routes to migration. The presentation concludes that the split opinions along with theexistence of the unofficial routes hinder the establishment of the official policy.
Joanna Marta Guzik
Institute of Middle and Far East Studies, Jagiellonian University (Poland)
Assistant Professor, Institute of Middle and Far East Studies, Jagiellonian University
in Krakow, Poland. Awarded MA and PhD from Jagiellonian University in 2004 and2010, respectively. Since 2006 she has been working in the Institute of Middle and
Far East Studies, Jagiellonian University as a Lecturer and since 2011 as an
Assistant Professor. In 2013 she received a special award from the Rector of
Jagiellonian University for her publication in Polish “Japan’s policy towards Jewish issue 1932-1945”. Her

research focuses on contemporary Japanese society, Japanese social policy, Japanese minority policy, historyof Japan, Korea – Japan relations, EU and V4 migration policy.

Polish government migrant policy since 2015: issues to be solved
Abstract:	  The presentation aims to show the migration policy of Szydlo’s government which stands incontradiction to the EU position on the migrant crisis. The Polish government, supported by public opinion,
expresses a veto on the relocation plan for migrants from Italy and Greece, however at the same time itallows Ukrainians and other ethnicities to come to Poland. During the presentation we will show Polishgovernment representatives and member’s speeches on the issue year by year since 2015 andpro-government media rhetoric, also in the context of growing “silent” acceptance of the ruling party’s
anti-foreign public speaking and acts.
Shinnosuke Takahashi
Faculty of Global Human Sciences, Kobe University (Japan)
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Global Human Sciences since April 2017. Takahashi
received his doctoral degree from the Australian National University in December
2016 with his dissertation on the nexus between social cohesion and identities
involved in the anti-US base activist communities in Okinawa. Throughethnography, interviews, and archival works, his research highlights the so-called“non-Okinawan” and a significant number of “non-Japanese” activists to examine, and reflect critically, thediscourses and practices that divide and connect the local protest community. Takahashi is an editor andauthor of Transnational Japan as History: Empire, Migration and Social Movements (Palgrave Macmillan,2016).

Becoming Local, Connecting Places: Trans-local Lives of Anti-Base Activists in Okinawa
Abstract:	  While we witness an ever-increasing number of scholarships on transnational social movements,
particularly in the fields of political sciences and sociology, only rarely examined is how a local civic activism
grows to become a movement overarching the multi-national boundaries. The usefulness of socio-historicalinquiries is that it not only unravels the local origins of the transnational movements but also affirms theimportance of the heterogenous nature of a local community upon which a form of transnationalism is created.
In this light, the 70 year-long tradition of anti-US base struggle in Japan’s southernmost prefecture, Okinawa,
is a great laboratory to examine the historical process by which the local activism became a node oftransnational anti-base networks in Asia and the Pacific. This presentation explores the details of some key
activists who started a movement called “Okinawa-Korea People’s Solidarity”, a group founded in the late1980s with the aim of internationalising Okinanwa’s protest movement. The life histories of respective
activists from different places in Japan compels us to take into account “non-Okinawan” as an agent to create
grass-roots regionalism in Asia and the multidimensionality of the Okinawan local protest culture and identity.

Sonja Snacken & Steven De Ridder, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)

Crimmigration” or Reintegration? Convergence between Criminal and Migration Laws
Discussant: Christian Kaunert
Academic Director, Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Prof. Dr. Christian Kaunert is Academic Director and Full Professor of European
Politics at the Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Previously,
he served as a Full Professor of International Politics, Head of Discipline in Politics,
University of Dundee and Director, European Institute for Security and Justice,Jean Monnet Centre for Excellence, University of Dundee. He was previously Marie
Curie Senior Research Fellow at the European University Institute Florence, and Senior Lecturer in EU Politics& International Relations, University of Salford. Prof. Kaunert holds a PhD in International Politics & an MSc inEuropean Politics from the University of Wales Aberystwyth, a BA (Hons) European Business from Dublin City
University, ESB Reutlingen and a BA (Hons) Open University. His research has a clear focus on the Global
Security role of the EU, especially in the area of EU Justice and Home Affairs.

Parallel Session 4

14:30-18:00
U-Residence small meeting room

Healthy and Active Ageing: a Key Role for Physical Exercise(Chair) Ivan Bautmans, Vrije Universiteit Brussels (Belgium)

Exercise to counter Inflam-aging

Hisatomo Kowa
Department of Rehabilitation Science, Graduate School of Health Sciences,
Kobe University (Japan)
Dr. Kowa graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo in 1995
and earned an MD. He engaged in neuropathological studies on Alzheimer’s
disease in the Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Tokyo andearned his PhD in 2004. He worked for Massachusetts General Hospital forthree years. He worked for the University of Tokyo Hospital from 2008 to 2010, then moved to Kobe
University Hospital. He became an associate professor of Neurology in 2012, and was promoted to professor
this year. He is currently interested in the prevention of dementia by community-based intervention.

Japanese Medical and Social System for Early Intervention of Patients with Cognitive Decline
Abstract:	  There has been a significant increase in the numbers of people with some form of dementia
worldwide as well as in Japan. Under this situation, disease modifying therapy for dementia is vital; however,many candidates have failed to show their efficiency, suggesting to us that our realistic strategy is to prevent
AD or to slow its progression from MCI to AD.
The most reliable method for preventing dementia is exercise. In Japan, a combinational intervention
including aerobic exercise and cognitive training called “Cognisize” has been established and is widespread.
We have two types of insurance systems for caring for older people. One is the healthcare insurance systemand the other is long-term care insurance system. “Cognisize” is available in many facilities based on the latterinsurance system.
In order to realize the earlier and community-based identification system of cognitive decline, Kobe University
and WHO Kobe Centre have just started a three year project with support from Kobe City to conduct ananalysis of health data of approximately 80,000 Kobe citizens in their 70s. This study will inform community
based models and policy options for Kobe Municipality and the national government to detect and to startintervention before cognitive decline starts.

Jürgen M. Bauer
Heidelberg University (Germany)
In 2016 Jürgen M. Bauer took over the chair for geriatric medicine at the Ruprecht
Karls University of Heidelberg, Germany. He is also the director of the Agaplesion
Bethanien Hospital Heidelberg. In 2010 he was appointed director of the Centre

for Geriatric Medicine Oldenburg, Germany. Between 2004 and 2010 he worked as assistant medical director
at the Department of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. In 2010 he washonored to become a member of the ESPEN faculty. He is also a member of the committee of scientificadvisors of the International Osteporosis Foundation (IOF). From 2007 until 2015 he was a member of theexecutive board of the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society (EUGMS) and he will be the congresspresident of the EUGMS Congress 2018, which will be held in Berlin. Jürgen M. Bauer serves currently as thepresident of the German Society for Geriatric Medicine (DGG). In 2007 he was awarded the honorary prize of
the German Geriatric Society. Since 2015 Jürgen M. Bauer has been working as a co-editor of Clinical Nutritionand since 2016 as a section editor of Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care. In recent years,
Jürgen M. Bauer’s research interest has focused on nutrition and its relationship with functionality in older
persons.

Sarcopenia: Current definitions and challenges

Evelien Van Roie
Department of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven (Belgium)
Evelien Van Roie graduated with an MSc in Movement Sciences from KU
Leuven (Belgium) in 2008. In 2014, she obtained her PhD with joint degree(KU Leuven – Vrije Universiteit Brussel) under the supervision of Prof.
Christophe Delecluse and Prof. Ivan Bautmans. Evelien is currently employed
as postdoc researcher at the Department of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven.
Her research focuses on age-related declines in muscle function and(resistance) exercise interventions to counteract these declines.

Resistance exercise to counter muscle weakness in the aged: does the intensity matter?
Abstract:	  Resistance exercise (RE) is the most effective approach to counteract sarcopenia. Internationalguidelines have recommended RE at relatively high loads (60%-80% of the one repetition maximum (1RM)).
Recently, the question has arisen whether muscle strength and mass gains would also be achievable withlighter loads. The aim of this presentation is to provide an up-to-date summary of the current literature on
high- and low-load RE and its effects on muscle mass, strength and functional performance in older adults. A
randomized controlled trial of 12-week lower limb training at either HIGH load (2×10–15 repetitions at 80%
of 1RM), LOW load (1 ×80–100 repetitions at 20% of 1RM), or LOW+ load (1×60 repetitions at 20% of 1RM,
followed by 1×10–20 repetitions at 40% of 1RM) will be discussed in detail. Conclusions support that highand low-load RE ending with volitional fatigue may be similarly effective for hypertrophy, strength gains andfunctional improvements in older adults (♂26, ♀30, age = 68 ± 5 yrs). Differences that occur are very specificto the trained movement. The study points out that it is time to re-think the high-load RE philosophy in older
adults.

Rei Ono
Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe University (Japan)
Associated Professor at the Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe University,Awarded MPH from the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan, and
PhD from the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan in 2006 and2012, respectively.
After working for Tohoku University Hospital as a Physical Therapist, joined Kobe
University as an academic member.
His research focuses on clinical epidemiology, geriatric medicine, and geriatric oncology.

Effect of exercise and activity on various frail elderly from epidemiological studies
Abstract:	  Japan has become the most aged society in the world. There is therefore a growing interest in
prevention of disease as well as curing disease. Frailty is recognized as a biologic syndrome associated withmultisystem declines in physiologic reserve and increased vulnerability to stressors, which results in increased
risk of adverse outcomes, including disability, hospitalization, and death. Recently, frailty is considered acomplex, multidimensional, and reversible state, and its concept is proposed to include not only the physicaldomain, but also cognitive and social domains (cognitive frailty and social frailty). The frail elderly should bescreened as soon as possible and be treated properly by medical staff and/or community. The key
non-pharmacological method to prevent frailty is to perform exercise and to keep active to counteract thevarious types of frailty, such as physical, cognitive, and social. I am going to present the effect of exercise andactivity on various frail elderly from previous reviews and our intervention study.

Discussant: Ingo Beyer
Head of Geriatric Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Brussel Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (Belgium)