2017 International Symposium on Joint Research Project of the Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo (IMSUT)

The international symposium entitled "Deciphering Genome Big Data" was held at Tomy Conference Hall in IMSUT Hospital Building on March 21st (Tuesday). Although recent progress of genome sequencing technology has a great impact on medical and genomic research, there remains a lot of issues in the interpretation of the big data and its application in clinics. In this symposium, front-line researchers of human genome research both in Japan and abroad were invited to introduce their current approach for deciphering and utilizing the big data.
After the opening remarks by Prof. Yoshinori Murakami, the Dean of IMSUT, Dr. Elizabeth Worthey, the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, USA, gave a plenary lecture regarding the current status of genome analysis and the approach for clinical application of the data in their institute.
In the subsequent morning session entitled "Cancer genome and Beyond", Prof. Tatsuhiro Shibata, IMSUT, talked about the elucidation of mutational signature of liver cancer and smoking-associated cancers, and Prof. Yutaka Suzuki, the University of Tokyo, introduced their multi-omics approach for lung cancer.
In the first afternoon session entitled "Translation of Genome Data for the Diagnosis and Care of Patients", Prof. Yoichi Furukawa, IMSUT, introduced the challenges of clinical sequencing including the use of artificial intelligence system, and Prof. Naomichi Matsumoto, Yokohama City University, gave a seminar about their recent accomplishments in discovery of cause of rare diseases using the next-generation sequencing technology.
Then, we enjoyed the second plenary lecture about their approach for deciphering the big data of rare disease and cancer diagnosis, presented by Dr. Mark Cowley, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Australia.
In the final session entitled "Genome Big Data and Healthcare", Prof. Jun Yasuda, Tohoku University, introduced the history, mission, and ongoing research projects of the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project, and Prof. Yukinori Okada, Osaka University, talked about the application of statistical genetics for disease biology and drug discovery.
Closing remarks were given by Prof. Satoru Miyano, the director of Human Genome Center, IMSUT. Active and fruitful discussions were carried out for each talk during the symposium.