Professor Shizuo AKIRA, Director of the Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC), and a contingent of 22 IFReC personnel attended the Convergent Research Consortium for Immunologic Disease (CRCID) held December 18-20th, 2011 at St. Mary's Hospital in Seoul, Korea, in mutual recognition of the fulfillment of the Academic Research Exchange Agreement between the two research organizations.

By this pact, IFReC and CRCID agreed to conduct joint research, lectures, symposia, seminars, and the like in creation of a mechanism to allow researchers and students ― young and developing researchers in particular ― to actively network and interact. Additionally, this Academic Research Exchange Agreement is an opportunity for the continued cooperative efforts of both parties in establishment of a leading role for the internationalization of translational research.

On the 19th of December, the same day as the signing ceremony of the mutual pact, a joint symposium was held with introduction by IFReC Director Shizuo AKIRA. Following, Professors Atsushi KUMANOGOH, Kiyoshi TAKEDA, Ken ISHII, Myong-ho JANG addressed the symposium on the themes of the prevention of immunological disease and treatment intervention.

Also, POSTECH, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, and IFReC took part in a tri-center poster session aimed toward young researchers. Out of 6 third-place poster prizes, three went to IFReC researchers, Ms. Hanna LEE (Akira Laboratory), Mr. Kenta MARUYAMA (Akira Laboratory), and Ms. Ichino CHINEN (Kishimoto Laboratory). Ms. Hong ZHAO (Coban Laboratory) was awarded one of three second-place poster prizes. Most exceptionally, Ms. Yuka MAEDA (Sakaguchi Laboratory) was selected as the recipient for Best Poster Presentation.

On the day of the symposium, approximately 250 individuals from POSTECH and the Catholic University of Korea, collectively, gathered in eager attendance at the lectures.

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