IRCMS and IROAST of Kumamoto University (Japan) and KAIST (Korea) had the workshop and Joint Symposium on February 22nd, 2021. Due to the pandemic, it had been held online. This is the fourth joint symposium between the three institutes; the first one held on October 2018 at KAIST, the second on January 2019 at Kumamoto University, and the third one on November 2019 at KAIST.

The theme of the symposium was set as "Facilitating Collaboration in Biomedical Engineering Research", and the symposium was aimed to match potential interdisciplinary research collaborations between Kumamoto University and KAIST.

The symposium had started with Opening Remarks by Dr. Toshio Suda, Director of IRCMS. Throughout the symposium, there were 16 speakers, 7 researchers from KAIST and 9 from Kumamoto University, to share their research projects, perspectives and experience in 5 sections of "Communication Biology and Engineering", "Nucleic Acids and Bioinformatics", "My Collaboration Experience", "Homeostasis and Disease" and "Biomaterials & Biotechnology". In addition to those sections, there was a part which laboratories from both Kumamoto University and KAIST had a chance to introduce their research as "Flash Talks". Closing Remarks by Dr. Injune Kim of KAIST closed the symposium with a good outlook for future collaborations.

There had been approximately 90 participants including the speakers throughout the symposium, and they had discussed actively about their ongoing projects and future research collaborations. It is expected that future collaborations will germinate and grow.

*For details about program      PROGRAM

(1)  Opening Remarks
Dr. Suda, IRCMS, KU
(2)  Symposium 1 "Communication Biology and Engineering"
Dr. Kobayashi, IMEG, KU	Dr. Jeon, DME, KAIST	Dr. Sawa, FAST, KU
(3)  Symposium 2 "Nucleic Acids and Bioinformatics"
Dr. Kurotaki, YCU/IRCMS, KU	Dr. Park, GSMSE, KAIST	Dr. Tani, FAST, KU
Dr. Jinkook Kim, GSMSE, KAIST
(4)  "My Collaboration Experience"
Dr. Pilhan Kim, GSMSE, KAIST	Dr. Mizuno, IRCMS, KU
(5)  Symposium 3 "Homeostasis and Disease"
Dr. Jeong, GSMSE, KAIST	Dr. Muramatsu, IRDA, KU	Dr. Oh, GSMSE, KAIST
Dr. Ishiguro, IMEG, KU
(6)  Symposium 4 "Biomaterials & Biotechnology"
Dr. Niidome, FAST, KU	Dr. Chung, DBS, KAIST	Dr. Zheng, IROAST, KU
(7)  Closing Remarks
Dr. Injune Kim, GSMSE, KAIST

4th KAIST-KU Workshop and Joint Symposium