The Japanese Society for Chemical Biology Hiroyuki Osada* Discovery Research Institute, RIKEN, Hirosawa 2-1, Wako-shi, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
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Photo courtesy of Andrew Feig.
raditionally, the fusion of chemistry and biology research has prospered in Japan. For example, many years ago, there was a debate on the cause of beriberi; one side supported a pathogenic fungi theory and the other, a nutrition deficiency theory. When Umetaro Suzuki discovered oryzanin in rice bran, however, the altercation was terminated. Oryzanin is now known as vitamin B1, and its discovery opened the frontier of vitamin ology. Another scientific achieve ment that occurred in Japan was the isolation of gibberellin from a fungal strain which caused rice bakanae disease (abnormal elongation of rice seedlings). This research was the origin of later phyto hormone study. Natural product chemistry, including the identification of the chemicals which govern important biological phenomena, was traditionally a Japanese specialty. Although many Japanese scientists were involved in natural product research, they had few opportunities where they could all come together and discuss their work This was because Japan’s researchers were divided into different societies such as The Chemical Society of Japan, The Japanese Biochemical Society, The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry. The annual meetings of these societies were invariably held on almost the same days, so researchers had few opportunities to gather and exchange information.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
[email protected].
Published online February 17,2006 10.1021/cb0600039 © 2006 by American Chemical Society
ACS C H E M I C A L B I OLOGY • VOL.1 NO.1
One exception, the Symposium on the Chemistry of Natural Products, has a nearly 50-year history and continues to play an important role in giving a common platform to Japanese organic chemists. This symposium, however, focuses on chemistry more than biology. With the development of molecular biology, it has become necessary to create a new platform dealing equally with chemistry and biology to reflect current research progress. The launching of new journals in chemical biology has inspired us to organize a new society for discussing and exchanging information on Chemical Biology. In response to an appeal by M. Hagiwara (Tokyo Medical and Dental University), researchers belonging to the University of Tokyo, the Tokyo Institute of Technology, RIKEN, and other such institutions gathered together to form the Japanese Society for Chemical Biology (http://www.tmd.ac.jp/jcb) in May 2005, Nagano (University of Tokyo) has graciously agreed to serve as the chairman of the Society. The first annual meeting will be held May 8–9, 2006, in Tokyo, Japan. More than 1000 researchers with different expertise will participate in the meeting, and editors of ACS Chemical Biology and Nature Chemical Biology will be invited to the international symposium. We expect that the new society will bring like-minded scientists together to foster communication between the chemists and biologists and expand collaborations between academia and industry. We look forward to an exciting meeting and welcome your participation in this new Japanese endeavor. w w w. a c s c h e m i ca l biology.org
