The Tübingen-RIKEN Joint Workshop was held on July 27-28, 2026, at RIKEN IMS in Yokohama, Japan. Seven guest speakers--Nisar Malek, Mathias Heikenwälder, Manfred Claassen, Suchira Garcha, Pavlos Missios, and Lukas Mager (remote) from the M3 Research Center, The University of Tübingen, alongside Takashi Miki from Chiba University--attended the workshop together with 11 speakers from IMS.
RIKEN IMS and the M3 Research Center have been strengthening their international collaboration in the fields of microbiome, metabolomics, and cancer research. The nine presentations on the first day focused on the topic of "virtual twins." In the afternoon, researchers participated in two breakout discussion sessions to explore joint funding opportunities. On the second day, a broad range of topics spanning microbiome, metabolome, immunology, structural biology and informatics were presented to introduce ongoing joint projects and identify avenues for future collaboration. In the afternoon of the second day, postdocs and graduate students at IMS, in addition to PIs, actively participated in one-on-one discussion sessions.
These deep, in-person discussions continued aboard a traditional Japanese yakatabune boat, which cruised through the Kawasaki industrial area and the modern urban landscape of Yokohama (photo). This provided researchers with the unique opportunity to share valuable time together in a traditional Japanese setting, further strengthening relationships and fostering deeper collaboration between both institutions.
It was agreed that researchers will maintain regular discussions remotely, while the next in-person workshop will be hosted in Tübingen in 2027.
July 27th, 2026 - July 28th, 2026
RIKEN Yokohama Campus
Organizer ：Masayuki Amagai, Haruhiko Koseki, Eiryo Kawakami (RIKEN IMS)
Co-organizer(s): Nisar Malek, Mathias Heikenwälder (Tübingen University)
Paticipants: Approx. 70 Participants
