Asian Pacific Society of Prion Research (APSPR)
Asian Pacific Society of Prion Research (APSPR)
News
●APPS 2021 online・Thank you all for your kind understanding and mutual agreement to another postponement,
this time of this year’s APPS in Beijing.
As new mutants of SARS-CoV2 are spreading around the world,
making overseas travel extremely difficult,
but I hope you are all well and your prion research is going well too.
Let us hope we can all meet again at APPS-Beijing next year.
Prof Dong and Dr Shi will tell us of their new plans for APPS2022 on the website soon.
An alternative option would be to hold APPS online. Here,
we announce the “APPS2021online” will be held on November 7.
Click here.
●APPS 2020 meeting
・In light of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, we have decided to cancel this year's annual meeting of APPS. Next year’s schedule will be announced on the APPS2020 website.
(The new schedule for APPS 2021will be in October 21-24, almost the same season with APPS 2020.)
●New President and Vice-President
・Dr. Noriyuki Nishida of Nagasaki University has become new President of APSPR.
・Dr. Ryuichiro Atarashi of Miyazaki University has become new Vice-President of APSPR.
●APSPR Travel Award for APPS2019 meeting
・APSPR Travel Award will be granted for junior researchers who attend and present a paper at APPS2019. The deadline of the application is September 8 (Sun), 2019. You can find the information of eligibility and applicationhere
●APPS2019 meeting
・APPS2019 meeting will be held on October 3 (Thu) -4 (Fri), 2019, at RIKEN Suzuki Umetaro Hall, the RIKEN Wako Campus, organized by Dr. Motomasa Tanaka of RIKEN Center for Brain Science.
・Deadline of abstract submission will be August 31 (Sat), 2019.
・For details, please visit the APPS2019 website
●APSPR Travel Award for APPS2018 meeting
・APSPR Travel Award will be granted for junior researchers who attend and present a paper at APPS2018. The deadline of the application is September 16 (Sun), 2018. You can find the information of eligibility and application here.
●APPS2018 meeting
・APPS2018 meeting will be held on October 4 (Thu) -5 (Fri), 2018, at Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute (TIRI), organized by Dr. Naomi Hachiya of TIRI.
・Abstract submission starts June 1 (Fri), 2018.
・For details, please visit the APPS2018 website.
●New Honorary Member
・ Dr. Yong-Sun Kim of the Ilsong Institute of Life Science, Hallym University, Korea has become new Honorary Member.
●APPS2017 and Future Meetings
• APPS2017 Melbourne hosted by Prof. Steven John Collins was successfully closed on October 21, thanks to the efforts of Prof. Collins, the local staff, and the members who participated.
• APPS2018 will be held on October 4th (Thu) – 5th (Fri), 2018 at Tokyo, Japan by Dr. Naomi Hachiya of Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute.
• APPS2019 will be held at Saitama, Japan by Dr. Motomasa Tanaka of RIKEN Brain Science Institute.
• APPS2020 will be held at Beijing, China Dr. Xiao-Ping Dong of National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, China CDC.
(Updated on October 1, 2021)
Asian Pacific Society of Prion Research (APSPR)
We have experienced over the last 20 years that prion diseases pose major threats to food safety through the prevalence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and the occurrence of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. We also have recognized again that prion diseases pose important threats to medical safety because of the frequent occurrence of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease associated with dura mater transplantation. Marked progress has been made in the last 20 years in the elucidation of the pathology of prion diseases as well as prion formation mechanisms, the development of diagnostic technologies for prions, and the development of technologies for prion inactivation. However, a long period of progress may unfold before prion diseases can be overcome.The disease occurs sporadically in most human patients, although the causes and predisposition to susceptibility remain to be known. Basic studies of therapeutic and preventive measures have been actively undertaken, but neither measures to prevent disease onset nor feasible measures to halt the progress of the disease completely have been discovered. In animals, prion disease (chronic wasting disease) is still prevalent in fee-ranging deer and elk, which are therefore difficult to contain. Whereas typical BSE has been nearly exterminated in cattle because regulations on feed worked, atypical types of BSE still occur sporadically. Scrapie has been tried to be overcome by bleeding sheep with the scrapie-resistant genotypes, although atypical scrapie occurs in such sheep.
Phenomena similar to prions have been identified in the pathogenic proteins of various other neurodegenerative diseases and amyloidoses, expanding the prion concept. It has not been concluded whether the pathogenic proteins of these diseases also threaten food safety or medical safety in the same way that prions do, although it poses a very important question. Because the morbidity of these diseases increases along with aging, the diseases can pose severe difficulties for medical safety in countries with aging populations.
The earnest hope of the APSPR is that a new breakthrough will be born from more active information exchange and joint studies via close interaction of many researchers throughout the Asian Pacific region who are interested in prion and prion-like phenomena. We also sincerely wish that the APSPR will be the place for the exchange of many young-generation researchers supporting the conquest of these diseases. For these purposes, the APSPR aims to be the platform of the Asian Pacific region to contribute to the progress of research, education, diagnosis, and medical care for fields in which prion and prion-like proteins are involved. We hope that concerned persons will make good use of the APSPR in equal partnership, transcending the constraints imposed by field designations and national boundaries.
December 2015
President of the APSPR
