Greeting

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Japanese Society for Genome Editing (JSGE), I am pleased to announce that the 5th annual meeting of the JSGE will be taking place at Kyoto University, from June 15th (Mon) to 17th (Wed) 2020. This is the first JSGE annual meeting held in Kyoto.

Without doubt, finding of the CRISPR system exploited the applications of genome editing in life science field across world-wide. Despite its simple mechanism of action for searching and cutting the target DNA sequence, the applications of genome editing is tremendous, hence the genome editing technologies have become one of the essential biotechnology tools. In addition to basic research, the potential is limitless from the creation of new varieties of useful agricultural and marine products combined with breeding technology, the production of useful biological substances, and the development of new genome editing therapy for intractable diseases.

The JSGE annual meeting is a place where academic and industry researchers gather to interact and exchange information of the latest trends in genome editing research that has made remarkable progress. With the great efforts of the Organizing Committee, programs and sessions will be organized so that you can learn the cutting-edge of genome editing research in a wide variety of ways in an easy-to-understand manner while inheriting the good traditions of the past annual meetings. There are many attractive sessions that focus on particularly important areas, such as novel genome editing platforms, genome editing in non-model organisms, regulations and social acceptance of genome edited foods, and movements towards medical applications.

As a new attempt from this annual meeting, we will revise the student participation fees to encourage the active participation of young students, who will be responsible for next-generation genome editing research. In addition, at this year's meeting, we will announce an excellence presentation award from registered presenters. By all means, I hope that many people will actively participate and register for their presentations.

Finally, Kyoto in June is beautiful with fresh greenery and hydrangea, and has many historical places to visit. We look forward to welcoming you to the ancient city of Kyoto, where we can have a blossom in the story of genome editing research.

President of the 5th Annual Meeting of the JSGE,
Center for iPS cell research and Application, Kyoto University
Akitsu Hotta