Closing Remarks from Prof. Shimon Sakaguchi
( Professor of IFReC )

To close the party, I’d like to say a few words.
On behalf of IFReC staff, first I’d like to thank the Government, the Mext, WPI program committee, and Osaka University for strong support for constructing an IFReC new building. With this new building and all the facilities already in use, IFReC is perhaps one of biggest institutes world-wide specifically for immunology research. Provided with these excellent facilities, the next thing we are expected to do is of course to do excellent science. To do good science, it is often said that we need two things, the door and the bridge. The combination is originally coined by a German social scientist, Georg Simmel. The door means that we sometimes need to close the door not to be interrupted by others and to concentrate on what you yourself think is important, whatever others may say. It is essential for original research.

On the other hand, the bridge means connection with others. The bridge connects you with others and with what others are doing, connects as collaboration, inputs and stimulations to have new and better ideas. Perhaps more importantly, we need to interact with others to be more conscious about the importance and significance of what we ourselves are doing and how it can be made more important and significant as science itself and also as scientific contribution to the society. So we need both the door and the bridge. I hope that the new building is the place for such interactions.

IFReC has so far been very successful in scientific accomplishments, I assume, and, we will continue to make efforts to make IFReC an epicenter, not of earthquakes, but a world epicenter of immunology research.

Thank you for your attendance to the ceremony and this party.