Remarks on the Occasion of the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry (JSBBA)

TADAO ASAMI

Tadao Asami

On behalf of the executive committee, I am delighted to welcome you to the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry (JSBBA).

The JSBBA has been convening these annual meetings to provide an opportunity to publicize the findings and results of both basic and applied studies on a range of research in the fields of chemistry and biology, represented by the three keywords of life, food, and environment. This year’s meeting will be held for four days: from March 24 (Sunday) to March 27 (Wednesday), 2019. The Setagaya Campus of Tokyo University of Agriculture will serve as the main venue. This year’s event will be different from those in the past years in two major ways. First, the Awards Ceremony and Awards Lectures will be held at the Tokyo University of Agriculture on the second day instead of the first day, and a mixer will be held at Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku on the same day. Second, 200 poster presentations (selected presentation), which will be selected from general lectures submitted to the program planning meeting, are scheduled to be displayed at the venue.

General lectures (oral presentations) and the symposium will be held on the first, third, and fourth days, with different subjects scheduled on each day to avoid overlaps. As per every year, the Luncheon Seminars and exhibitions of equipment, reagents, and books will also take place. On the first day, we will hold our annual fixture, the “Luncheon Symposium about JABEE.” Last year’s meeting in Nagoya introduced a forum for students and companies to interact with each other, which proved very popular. This year, a similar forum, newly named the “Agrochemical Enterprise Briefing Session,” will be held on the second day. As usual, the Nougeikagaku Meeting for High-school Students will also take place on the second day. Participants are encouraged to take part in this event to show support for the students. On the third day, the Luncheon Symposium about Gender Equality will be convened. Along with various women’s awards, this symposium is part of the JSBBA’s effort to promote gender equality. In addition, the Forum of the Academic Exchange Committee between Government, Industry and Academia is also planned this year. On the same day, the Academic Activities Committee will preside over two sessions of the Transdisciplinary Joint Symposium. Co-hosted by the Japanese Society for Medical Use of Functional Foods and the Society of Genome Microbiology, Japan, these sessions will aim to promote transdisciplinary cooperation between different academic societies. As with last year, we are planning to hold the BBB Luncheon Seminar. Your participation is highly appreciated. On the fourth day of the meeting, the JSBBA “Chemistry and Biology” Symposium, with a theme on intestinal microbiota associated with health, will be held at Tokyo University of Agriculture. Another routine event, the Frontiers Symposium intended for young researchers and students, will commence on the last day of the entire meeting for a period of 2 days. This program is designed to encourage interaction among young researchers and students. We look forward to the active involvement of our younger participants.

This concludes a brief summary of the events to be held during the meeting. We ask for your patience and understanding in case of any shortcomings, and we would appreciate it if you could share your opinion of the event with us through our executive committee or agrochemistry secretariat.

Lastly, this meeting would not be possible without the support from businesses and various other organizations. In addition to donations of beverages and other handouts, we are still seeking help for the exhibition of equipment, reagents, and books as well as the Luncheon Seminars, Corporate Exhibition, and advertisement. We ask for your further assistance in making this event an even greater success.

Of course, the onus is on us, the executive committee, to ensure this 2019 JSBBA Meeting will be a fruitful experience for the participants. We are looking forward to your participation in the meeting and engagement in active discussions for the future of agrochemistry. We sincerely hope that this meeting will serve as a stepping stone for fostering next-generation talent.