KU-UW Alliance Project International Joint Symposium

Seeing and Studying Humans through New Technology

The KU-UW Alliance Project, an academic exchange initiative with the University of Washington for the 2025 academic year, will be held from January 28 to January 30, 2026.
On the first day, January 28, an international joint symposium will take place at the Kusunoki Campus. From the second day onward, invited researchers from UW will also participate in the retreat “Wakate Dojo” as special guests.

Overview
Date:	Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Venue:	Shinryoku Memorial Hall A & B
Registration:	Please refer to the email sent to each laboratory.
Deadline:	Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Capacity:	Approximately 200 participants
Orgnized by:	Center for Medical Transformation(CMX)
Co-organized by:	Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington
Supported by:	JST Fusion Oriented Research for Disruptive Science and Technology Program, AMED AIMGAIN, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Carl Zeiss AG, 10x Genomics, Inc.

PROGRAM
8:45	Registration
9:30	Welcome Address　Takamichi Murakami, Dean of the Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe University Opening Remarks　John D. Scott, Chair of Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington Program Overview　Masanori Miyanishi, Program Chair, Kobe University
Session 1	Unraveling Cellular Complexity: Illuminating Cells by Single Cell Analysis
9:45	Defining Deep Biology with High Dimensional Platform Technologies. "Spatial protein localization and detection at the single cell level" Robert Balderas,　BD Biosciences
10:35	Toward Visualizing the Cellular Heterogeneity of Bone Marrow Masanori Miyanishi, Kobe University
10:50	Heart rate adaptability: from ion channels to heart dysfunction Claudia Moreno, University of Wasington
11:10	Novel Biochemical Methods to Investigate Mitochondria, Metabolism and Signaling Yasemin Sankak, University of Washington
11:30	Q&A Session
11:50	Lunch Break
Session 2	Visualizing Life: Advances in Microscopy
13:00	Introducing light-field 4D microscopy technology that realizes one volume per one snap Yasuhiko Sato, ZEISS
13:20	Dissecting inflammatory dynamics and their regulation through intravital imaging Junichi Kikuta, Kobe University
13:35	Unraveling Mechanisms Underlying Neurodevelopmental Disorders using Cortical Organoids Smita Yadav, Univerisity of Washington
13:55	Approaches for investigating neural circuits that govern motivated behavior Marta Soden, University of Washington
14:15	Q&A Sesssion
14:35	Coffee Break
Session 3	Decoding the Human Blueprint: Omics Approaches
15:05	Unparalleled single cell spatial discovery Yuji Sato, 10X Genomics
15:25	Spatial Mapping of Small Cell Lung Carcinoma: Intratumoral Diversity and Discovery of a New Macrophage Subset Masafumi Horie, Kobe University
15:40	Reconstruction of human post-gastrulation development in vitro Nobuhiko Hamazaki, University of Washington
16:00	TBD David Schechner, University of Washington
16:20	Q&A Session
Session 4	Designing the Future: Innovations in Cell Engineering
16:50	Engineering Immune Cells for Neuroprotection: Lessons from Multiple Sclerosis and Neuromyelitis Optica Norio Chihara, Kobe University
17:05	Preclinical tools for bridging brain, body, and behavior Sam A. Golden, University of Washington
17:25	Accelerating Fluorescent Sensor Engineering for Neuroscience with Machine Learning and High-Throughput Platforms Andre Berndt, University of Washington
17:45	Q&A Session
18:05	Closing Remarks Takashi Aoi, director of CMX, Kobe University