In May 2017, the Leung lab visited several collaborating groups in Asia and shared with them our research vision on using zebrafish to find new drugs for retinal degeneration. In this blog post, we will share some pictures of our visit to the Department of Ophthalmology at the Osaka University School of Medicine. We met our long-term collaborator Dr. Motokazu Tsujikawa. He is a co-mentor of Logan Ganzen, a graduate student in our laboratory. Logan is a recipient of the predoctoral award from the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. During our Osaka trip, he presented a talk entitled “Visual Motor Response of a Transgenic Retinitis Pigmentosa Zebrafish Model” to Dr. Tsujikawa.
Logan in front of a new Center for Medical Innovation and Translational Research.
Fai and Dr. Motokazu in his zebrafish facility in the Center of Medical Innovation and Translational Research.
The Center is beautifully designed with lots of open space.
Logan presented his latest findings to Dr. Motokazu, who served as a co-mentor in Logan’s CTSI predoctoral fellowship.
We also visited the daily operation of the ophthalmology clinic and Osaka University Hospital, and participated in the grand rounds of the local ophthalmologists. We experienced firsthand the passion of translational research from our Japanese colleagues.
Entrance hall of the medical building
A panoramic view at the top floor of the hospital.
We joined the grand rounds of the local ophthalmologists. Dr. Kohji Nishida welcomed the group and gave an opening speech. Even though we did not speak Japanese, we witnessed their passion to improve clinical service through research.
Needless to say, we were also well-fed by Dr. Tsujikawa with the finest Japanese food, and took some time to visit Kyoto, a magnificent ancient city.
Dr. Motokazu fed us with delicious Japanese food!
A torii path at the Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto.
Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto