From 2nd to 4th October 2017 in Sendai, 2nd Karolinska-Tohoku Joint Symposium on Medical Sciences, featuring biobank and biochemistry, was held by Tohoku University Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University Hospital, and Karolinska Institute.

In the opening remarks, President Susumu Satomi at Tohoku University, told that Tohoku University had been selected as one of the three Designated National University Corporations by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in 2017, and was planning to establish the World Leading Research Centers of next-generation medical care. This symposium was held as the kickoff meeting for the center.

During the symposium, 32 speakers presented their recent progresses in various biomedical topics and active discussions were held. Especially, the biochemistries of oxidative stress signaling and importance of clinical biobanking were discussed.

As a Designated National University, Tohoku University has a mission to facilitate young scientists’ research activity. So the symposium awarded two young investigators for their presentations: the winners were Dr. Qing Cheng at Karolinska Institute and Associate Prof. Masahiro Hiratsuka at Tohoku University.

The symposium was a good opportunity to fortify the partnerships between Karolinska Institute and Tohoku University, and will be a trigger to develop new international collaborations for next-generation medical care among clinical biobanks.

Before the symposium, 10 foreign speakers took a tour of the facilities such as supercomputer system, biobank, sequencing facility, Sendai Community Support Center.