THE UEHARA INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM 2021

　We are pleased to announce the Uehara International Symposium 2020 “Brain-Periphery Interactions in Health and Diseases” sponsored by the Uehara Memorial Foundation will be held from June 8 to 10, 2020.

　The homeostasis of our body is maintained by regulatory systems such as the nervous system, the endocrine system and the immune system. These systems interact with each other through elaborate and reciprocal communications between the brain and the periphery. Accumulating evidence suggests that deficits in these systems cause abnormal homeostasis of multiple organs and potentially lead to various diseases. For example, the brain receives signals from peripheral organs such as the liver, heart and adipose tissue through afferent nerves and hormones, and sends signals back to the periphery through efferent nerves for metabolic and cardiovascular regulations. Deficits in these interactions increase the risk of metabolic syndromes and heart failure, and may even promote aging. The immune system also affects brain functions. Perinatal infection increases the rate of psychiatric diseases in born children. Immune cytokines and a particular T cell subset are involved in this phenomenon, and we now know how they act in the developing brain. T cells also play various roles in brain functions, brain injury and neurodegenerative diseases even in the adulthood. Microglia, resident immune cells in the brain, as well as astrocytes and oligodendrocytes often function as mediators of peripheral inflammatory stimuli for brain remodeling. In addition, various sensory inputs from the periphery are integrated in the brain and affect not only consciousness and behavior but also homeostatic control of our bodies.

　In the light of this progress, the Uehara Memorial Foundation has established the 10th Specific Research Project, “Brain–periphery interactions in health and diseases”, and has been supporting research of 20 Japanese scientists for three years from 2018.

　In this international symposium, we invite 11 leading oversea experts in this field, and have an opportunity to listen to their cutting-edge studies together with outcome presentations by the 20 Uehara Research Grant recipients. Here we together with all attendants create a forum to discuss physiological and pathophysiological implications of homeostatic control by brain-periphery communications.

　We look forward to your participation.

　　　December 2019

[Addendum]

　The UEHARA International Symposium “Brain-Periphery Interactions in Health and Diseases” originally scheduled on June 8-10, 2020, in Tokyo is postponed on June 7-9, 2021, due to COVID-19 pandemic, and will be held as a Web Conference. This pandemic has made us realize that, despite significant advances in our knowledges in life science and medicine, we are powerless against newly emerging infectious diseases and much remains to be clarified in their pathogenesis. It is in this context that having an international meeting in this unprecedented time and deepening our sciences are more important and worthwhile. Although we cannot make face-to-face discussions as usual, we do hope that by having this UEHARA International Symposium, we advance our sciences for better future.

　　　February 2021