The 3rd Joint Retreat of the Keio University Institute for Advanced Biosciences and Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Held
September 13, 2022
From August 30 to 31, the joint retreat of the Keio University Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB) and the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences was held at the Tsuruoka Town Campus of Keio (TTCK) in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. This was the third joint retreat, but the first to be held on-site in Tsuruoka City in three years, since the first retreat in fiscal year 2019. Sixteen graduate students and seven faculty and staff members from the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences participated.
At the Institute for Advanced Biosciences, experts from various fields come together to lead research in what is called "integrated systems biology," which makes full use of IT. The Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences develops comprehensive pharmaceutical research based on life sciences, analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, and medical pharmacy. However, the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences faces challenges, including limited opportunities for its graduate students to interact with researchers and students from other fields and graduate schools, as well as a lack of initiatives related to entrepreneurship. To address these issues, the joint retreat focused on promoting research exchange across disciplinary boundaries and discussions with individuals involved in Keio University-launched ventures.
On the first day, August 30, participants traveled by air and then joined the students and faculty of the IAB. The program for the first day consisted of short presentations by students and a lecture by Masaru Tomita, Director of the IAB. A rule was set for the short presentations that prohibited conventional presentations, so students enthusiastically promoted the appeal and ambitions of their own research. In his lecture, Director Tomita spoke passionately about the mindset required of researchers to pioneer the coming era, while also touching on the history of the institute. At the end of the first day, the group assignments, based on the short presentations (a nomination system by student "presidents"), were announced. Six joint IAB-Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences teams, structured as companies, began preparing for the next day's mock venture presentations.
The morning of the second day featured invited lectures by three speakers involved in Keio-launched ventures, followed by a panel discussion that included the venture speakers and young faculty members from the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences. For the students of the Graduate School, this was an opportunity to feel closer to venture companies, which can often seem unfamiliar. The hints for the future embedded in the discussion surely provided a foundation for them to carve out their own career paths. The afternoon was dedicated to presentations of the mock venture concepts, which had been prepared at a rapid pace since the previous day. Centered around the six student presidents, each team presented their envisioned venture business and held a Q&A session. Despite the short preparation time, each "company" was able to propose highly original products and businesses based on their own research fields and the needs of the times. The final program was individual lab visits. Participants had researched laboratories and venture companies of interest in advance and visited one of them to observe the research environment and engage in discussions with researchers.
Although it was a fast-paced two-day program, a post-event survey revealed that all participants reported their satisfaction as being "above expectations" or "as expected," suggesting that we were able to provide a fulfilling program. On the other hand, there is still room for improvement, such as the packed schedule and limited time for student interaction. While this retreat largely achieved its goal of promoting research exchange, we will strive to further facilitate interaction with an even more engaging program next time.