The 1st KU-KAIST Joint Symposium was held on October 22, 2018 in the Matrix Hall, KI Building, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.

The symposium was jointly organized by KAIST and Kumamoto University (KU), and it was also held as the 3rd IRCMS & IROAST Joint Seminar (IRCMS: The International Research Center for Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University; IROAST: The International Research Organization for Advanced Science and Technology, Kumamoto University).

The symposium started with the opening remarks from Professor Yong-Mahn Han, the Dean of the College of Life Science & Bioengineering, KAIST. Then followed an Introduction to GSMSE, KAIST by Professor Gou Yong Koh, an Introduction to IRCMS by Professor Takizawa, and an Introduction to IROAST by Professor Hiyama, before the joint sessions started.

The Symposium theme was “Stem cell-vascular biology and related technologies.” Six primary investigators (PIs) from IRCMS, three PIs from IROAST and five PIs from KAIST introduced their cutting-edge researches in the four sessions of "Cell Biology,” “Vascular Biology," "New Technology" and "Human Disease."

The aim of this symposium was to match potential research collaborations between Kumamoto University and KAIST, in the field of bio-engineering to harness medicine and technology, in particular, bio-imaging （ microscopy, nanotechnology and microfluidics ）and single cell analysis（big data informatics, mathematical modeling, etc. ）. We also agreed to hold the 2nd KU-KAIST Joint Symposium, which has been scheduled for January 25, 2019 in Kumamoto, Japan.

Session I. Cell Biology

	Hitoshi Takizawa, KU-IRCMS "Inflammation-instructed modification and alteration of early hematopoiesis"
	Jinju Han, KAIST "Small noncoding RNAs in Neurogenesis"
	Goro Sashida, KU-IRCMS "Epigenetic dysregulation in the development of leukemia"

Session II.  Vascular Biology

	Koichi Nishiyama, KU-IRCMS "Endothelial angiogenic morphogenesis and the modifiers"
	Injune Kim, KAIST "Dll4 regulation of adult blood-retina barrier"
	Guojun Sheng, KU-IRCMS "Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in development and disease"

Session III.  New Technology

	Ho Min Kim, KAIST "Single particle EM from low to high resolution for macromolecular complex structure & biomedical research"
	Takumi Higaki, KU-IROAST "Bioimage clustering and classification"
	Hidenobu Mizuno, KU-IRCMS "In vivo two-photon imaging of developing neuronal circuits in the cerebral cortex"
	Pilhan Kim, KAIST "Intravital microscopy for dynamic cellular phenotype analysis, in vivo"
	Aeju Lee, KU-IROAST "Multi-functional polymeric nanoparticles for target drug delivery and molecular Imaging"

Session IV.  Human Disease

	Young Seok Ju, KAIST "Timing and patterns of structural variations in lung adenocarcinoma"
	Yorifumi Satou, KU-IRCMS "Massive single cell profiling of peripheral blood from human T-cell leukemia virus infected individuals"
	Yufeng Zheng, KU-IROAST "Biological response of degradable metallic biomaterials by stem cell model and animal testings"
	Jaemyoung Suh, KAIST "FGF1 takes on new roles in metabolism and tissue homeostasis"