News in 2016

9. 13. 2016

The 16th Izumiya Colloquium

The 16th Izumiya Colloquium, which was postponed due to a typhoon, was held at Fukuoka Women’s University. Ms. Rinko Kumamoto, a first-year master’s student, and Mr. Atsuya Nishimoto gave oral presentations at the conference for the first time. The titles of their presentations were “Verification of the functional role of the κ-opioid receptor Cys161 on the plasma membrane side” and “Effect of the number of linker bases in the estrogen receptor response sequence on the estrogen activity enhancing effect,” respectively. Daiki Kurahachi, also a first-year master’s student, gave a poster presentation titled “Construction and Transcriptional Activity Analysis of AF1 Region Chimeric Receptors of Estrogen Receptor Types α and β. And Yuko Matsuyama, a third-year doctoral student, received the Poster Award for her poster presentation titled “Discovery and Verification of Novel Functions of Spontaneously Active Nuclear Receptors!　As expected of a doctoral student, he showed great dignity. We would like to thank the professors for changing the schedule suddenly due to the typhoon, and for allowing us to use the wonderful venue of Fukuoka Women’s University.

7. 2. 2016

The 53rd Joint Kyushu Meeting of Chemistry-Related Branches

Dr. Matsushima led us to the Joint Kyushu Meeting of Chemistry-Related Chapters, a gathering of chapters of chemistry-related societies in the Kyushu area. This year, as in previous years, the conference was held at the International Conference Center in Kitakyushu. First-year master’s students Ms. Rinko Kumamoto, Mr. Hiroki Kurahachi, and Mr. Atsushi Nishimoto made their debut at the conference!　Each struggled to create a poster for the first time, but with the advice of their professors and seniors, they devised a poster that was easy to understand and view. It was raining at first, but as you can see, by the time the pictures were taken, the weather had cleared up thanks to the power of Ms. Kumamoto, who is a sunny lady. I was tired from standing for an hour at the poster presentation, but I learned a lot from the opinions of many people. Thank you very much to everyone who came to listen to our posters.

The regular meeting of the Kyushu Branch of the Japan Society of Biochemistry for the year of Heisei 28

We participated in the Kyushu Branch Meeting of the Japanese Biochemical Society. This year’s meeting was held at Kagoshima University’s Korimoto Campus. Dr. Liu presented a paper entitled “Proof of homodimeric function of estrogen receptor ER and estrogen-related receptor ERR by dimer inhibitory peptides,” and Mr. Matsuyama and Ms. Sugiyama, JSPS Research Fellows, respectively, in turn presented papers entitled “Constitutively active spontaneously activated nuclear receptors identify/recognize ligand-activated nuclear receptors and specifically enhance their activity” and “Bisphenol to the ligand-activated nuclear receptors. Recognition and specific activity enhancement” and “Effects of bisphenol A diet on circadian rhythm transmitting neuropeptide genes in hypoactive symptomatic animals” were the titles of oral presentations on the results of their daily research. We will do our best in our research so that we can participate again next year!

Dr. Yasuyuki Shimoto’s Retirement Memorial Lecture and Retirement Celebration were held.

The Retirement Memorial Lecture and Retirement Celebration for Dr. Yasuyuki Shimoto, Chief Professor of Kyushu University, who retired in March 2016, were held. The lecture was held in the conference room on the 10th floor of the JR Hakata City Conference Room from 10:30 AM to 5:00 PM. In the lecture session, as many as 17 professors gave lectures in the forum “Life Science Discussion Series,” “New Era of Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins Biochemi-story of My Life One Direction. Dr. Yasuyuki Shimoto gave a special lecture on antibodies, cells, DNA, and “Learn well, play well”: Biochemi-story of my life one direction Non-peptide research contributing to peptide science research. The lecture was a great success with over 80 participants. We would like to thank all the professors who kindly agreed to give lectures and all the participants who came from all over Japan.

The retirement celebration party was held at Hotel Nikko Fukuoka from 6:30 p.m. Over 100 people attended the party, which was conducted in a very friendly atmosphere in accordance with Dr. Yasuyuki Shimoto’s wishes. Heartwarming words of congratulations were expressed by the assembled teachers and many graduates. In addition, as one of the commemorative gifts, huge messages were presented from the graduates of Shimoto Laboratory. In addition, a five-student unit presented a song, “Arigatou (SMAP),” and the celebration was very much like a concert hall with twinkling red, blue, and green lights. Dr. Yasuyuki Shimoto once said, “I was so happy to be able to attend this celebration. He once said, “I intend to hold a farewell ceremony at this celebration. This will be the last opportunity for me to meet with all of you, including the graduates, and to thank each and every one of you. In other words, the concept of the gala was a farewell ceremony before his death. However, at the end, Dr. Yasuyuki Shimoto handed each of us a thank-you note, making it seem like a “wedding” reception rather than a “farewell ceremony. Thank you very much to everyone who came from afar. Photos will be posted at a later date.

Orientation for new room attendees was held.

We welcomed two new fourth-year students to our lab. At the suggestion of Dr. Matsushima, who loves sweets, everyone in the lab had lunch and dessert at a natural food restaurant in the Shiiki Auditorium of Kyushu University. It was the first time for all of us to visit the restaurant, even though it is located right next door. The pizza baked in a stone oven was crispy and delicious. We then had a fun time declaring our “research goals for the year” as we always do. How many of my goals will I be able to achieve at the end of this year? 　I will do my best so that I can say that 2016 was a good year!

Our website has been redesigned!

It is a new fiscal year. With it, our website has also been renewed. Currently, we have two staff members, Associate Professor Ayami Matsushima and Assistant Professor Xiaohui Liu, and seven students, for a total of nine. We will do our best with everyone’s cooperation, and we would appreciate your warm support. In addition, we have received some inquiries about the contact address (e-mail address) of Professor Emeritus Yasuyuki Shimoto, and we would like to inform you that you can still use the same address as before.