Message from the Chair (2)

July 2026

Dear Members of the Genetics Society of Japan,

First of all, thank you very much for the overwhelming number of proposals for workshops and symposia. We truly appreciate your enthusiasm. In response, we have decided to accept all submitted proposals.

Registration for the meeting and submission of contributed presentations (oral and poster) are now open. The deadline is July 23. Please don't let the July 23 deadline sneak up on you!

The theme of this year's meeting is "Back to the Basics"—or perhaps, "Back to the Future?" Rather than focusing on large-scale events, we aim to return to what has always been the heart of our meeting: outstanding scientific presentations and lively discussions. Through these discussions, we hope to provide opportunities for researchers from different generations and research fields to meet, exchange ideas, and build new collaborations.

One event that perfectly embodies this spirit is the Night Seminar. Inspired by the atmosphere of the original Night Seminars, participants will have the opportunity to explore cozy, Showa retro-style Japanese pubs together with senior scientists, leaving titles and positions behind and enjoying free and informal conversations. For some of us, it may even bring back memories of the 1980s. The details will remain a surprise until you join us. If you simply cannot wait, feel free to contact the meeting secretariat (gsj2026tokyo@gmail.com). One of the organizing committee members (you can probably guess who) might quietly reveal a few hints.

We are also placing greater emphasis than ever on promoting diversity and inclusion. In addition to our existing support programs, we can arrange babysitting services upon request. For those who cannot attend the meeting in person but still wish to present their work and participate in discussions, we have introduced an online participation option. We also warmly welcome participants attending with their children. Please do not hesitate to contact us—we will do our best to accommodate your needs. We hope many of you will take advantage of these support programs and join us in Tokyo.

On Saturday, September 12, the day after the meeting, we will hold a Public Outreach Lecture. Five distinguished speakers will introduce the excitement of genetics and recent advances in the field in an accessible and engaging way. They will also discuss new approaches to conducting scientific research together with the public through citizen science. Although the main audience will be junior and senior high school students, we believe that many society members will also find the program inspiring and thought-provoking.

Finally, a note on accommodation. There are only a limited number of hotels near the Ookayama campus. Fortunately, the campus is conveniently connected by train, with Yokohama and Shin-Yokohama stations only about 20 minutes away. In addition to Oimachi and Futako-Tamagawa, we also recommend considering hotels in the Yokohama and Shin-Yokohama areas.

We hope the lingering summer heat will have eased by September, and we very much look forward to welcoming you to Ookayama. We sincerely hope that many of you will join us for what promises to be an exciting, inspiring, and enjoyable meeting.

 

Hiroshi Iwasaki
Conference Chair, The 98th Annual Meeting of the Genetics Society of Japan (2026)
Professor, Cell Biology Center
Institute of Integrated Research, Institute of Science Tokyo

Message from the Chair (1)

The 98th Annual Meeting of the Genetics Society of Japan

January 2026

The 98th Annual Meeting of the Genetics Society of Japan (GSJ) will be held over three days, from September 9 (Wednesday) to September 11 (Friday), 2026, at the Ookayama Campus of the Institute of Science Tokyo. As the 2021 meeting was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this will be the first in-person GSJ meeting in Tokyo in nearly 20 years, following the 2005 meeting at the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center. With the generous support of the Society, preparations for the meeting are currently progressing steadily. The latest information will be made available on this website.

The meeting aims to bring together recent research achievements and insights from across the broad and diverse fields of genetics, promote active academic exchange, and reaffirm the importance of genetics in contemporary society. In particular, we seek to provide an environment in which researchers can engage in lively discussions that transcend differences in research fields, generations, and backgrounds. Beyond formal presentations, we hope to create opportunities for sustained and in-depth scientific dialogue that naturally extend beyond the scheduled sessions. Further details of the program will be announced in due course.

The scientific program will consist of symposia, workshops, contributed oral presentations, and poster sessions (for students up to the master’s level). We invite proposals for symposia and workshops and encourage you to submit your ideas. Further details, including submission guidelines and deadlines, will be announced around March. As in previous years, outstanding oral presentations will be recognized with the Best Paper (BP) Award, and excellent poster presentations will be honored with the Young Best Poster (YBP) Award at the General Assembly on the final day of the meeting. Supporting and recognizing the creativity and initiative of early-career researchers remains a key priority for the Society.

In addition, a public outreach lecture will be held on Saturday, September 12, following the conclusion of the meeting. This event is planned as an opportunity for experts to explain, in an accessible manner, how genetics contributes to and shapes contemporary society. Further details will be announced on the meeting website as they become available.

As the research environment continues to evolve rapidly, GSJ has long served as an open platform where researchers from diverse disciplines and perspectives come together to exchange ideas freely and learn from one another. We hope that this meeting will likewise provide a valuable opportunity to foster deeper dialogue and interaction among participants.

We sincerely look forward to your active participation and contributions, and we will make every effort to ensure that the meeting is both productive and rewarding. We hope to welcome many of you to Tokyo in September 2026.

 

Hiroshi Iwasaki
Conference Chair, The 98th Annual Meeting of the Genetics Society of Japan (2026)
Professor, Cell Biology Center
Institute of Integrated Research, Institute of Science Tokyo