ISAS logo mark
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
Department of Interdisciplinary Space Science
JAXA logo mark

International Astrobiology
Workshop 2013

as the 6th Japan Astrobiology Network Workshop (JABN6)

The Workshop Has Concluded Successfully with 157 Participants from 8 Countries. On-line JAXA Repository Archive Will Become Available by the End of the Year 2013.

     
Dates Workshop (November 28-30, 2013)
  Open Lectures (December 1, 2013)
   
Venues Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan
Workshop: JAXA/ISAS Sagamihara Campus
Public Lectures: Sagamihara City Museum
   
Main SponsorJapan Astrobiology Network (JABN)
  
Co-Sponsors Institute of Space and Astronautical Science,
 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA/ISAS)
  
ELSI logo mark Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology
(ELSI/Tokyo Tech)
  
NINS logo mark Astrobiology Division, Center for Novel Science Initiatives,
National Institutes for Natural Sciences (NINS/CNSI)
Museum logo mark  
Sagamihara City Museum
  

Meeting Rationale

"Astrobiology" has been created as a new interdisciplinary academic field that integrates astronomy, solar system science, geochemistry, microbiology, and other disciplines. One of the most profound themes of modern science is to judge if "terrestrial" biology can be "universal" outside the Earth and even outside the Solar System just like physics and chemistry both of which are applicable at anywhere in this Universe. It is expected to derive great contributions for astrobiology from space science, such as space astronomy, Solar System exploration, and planetary science including space environment experiments.

 Now, a number of international refereed journals in the astrobiology field have been publishes while NASA has established virtual institutes to invest research grants in this field the most effectively. In Japan, there have been also recent publications of both professional and public books in astrobiology and new organizations to support this research area have been founded.

 This workshop is the 6th of the Japan Astrobiology Network (JABN) annual workshop series founded since 2008. It aims to promote interdisciplinary interactions among astrobiology researchers and advancement of this field in Japan. At this time, we will hold this workshop as a 3-days-long international workshop with English as the working language, for the first time of this series; thus we encourage inviting both astrobiology experts from overseas as well as young researchers in Japan. In addition, there will be public lectures in the last day of the event.

Meeting History:

1st 2008 : Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Hayama Campus
2nd 2009 : Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Hayama Campus
3rd 2010 : Tama Nagayama Information Education Center
4th 2011 : Kobe University
5th 2012 : National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka Campus
6th 2013 : JAXA/ISAS, Sagamihara Campus
  (and the 1st International Workshop)
   

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Program

Latest Program( PDF file ) as of November 27, 2013

Abstract Book by LPI Edition( PDF file ) as of November 15, 2013

Science Session Categories:

(A)Exoplanetary Systems and Exoplanets: Theories, Models, Observations
(B)Molecular Clouds, Planetary Formation Regions
(C)Meteoritics and Cosmochemistry
(D)Solar System Exploration and Experiments: Science, Mission Designs,
 Instruments and Enabling Technology
(E)Early Earth, Geochemistry and Planetary Environment
(F)Extremephiles: Life in Extreme Environments
(G)RNA and Molecular Biology
  

Session Organizers:

 Masaki FUJIMOTO (JAXA/ISAS) (D)
 Hidenori GENDA (ELSI/Tokyo Tech) (E)
 Daiki HORIKAWA (Universite Paris Descartes) (F)
 Shigeru IDA (ELSI/Tokyo Tech) (A)
 Motoo ITO (JAMSTEC) (C)
 Daisuke KIGA (ELSI/Tokyo Tech) (G)
 Kensei KOBAYASHI (Yokohama National University) (A)
 Hitoshi KUNINAKA (JAXA/JSPEC) (D)
 Yutestu KURUMA (ELSI/Tokyo Tech) (G)
 Takano NAKAGAWA (JAXA/ISAS) (A)
 Masatoshi OHISHI (NAOJ) (B)
 Yasuhito SEKINE (University of Tokyo) (E)
 Ken TAKAI (JAMSTEC) (F)
 Yoshinori TAKANO (JAMSTEC) (C)
 Motohide TAMURA (University of Tokyo) (A)
 Yuichiro UENO (ELSI/Tokyo Tech) (F)
 Hikaru YABUTA (Osaka University) (C)
 Hajime YANO (JAXA/ISAS) (D)
  

Example of Invited Speakers:(as of November 13th, 2013)

(A)Exoplanets: Theories, Models, Observations
 Piet Hut( ELSI & Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA )
  
(B)Molecular Clouds, Planetary Formation Regions
 Arnaud Belloche ( Max Plank Institute for Radioastronomie,
  Germany )
  
(C)Meteoritics and Cosmochemistry
 Sasha Krot ( University of Hawai'i, USA )
  
(D)Solar System Exploration and Experiments: Science, Mission Designs,
 Instruments and Enabling Technologies
 Peter Tsou ( Sample Exploration Systems, USA )
 Gerda Horneck ( Institute of Aerospace Medicine/DLR, Germany )
  
(E)Early Earth, Geochemistry, Planetary Environment
 Feng Tian ( NAOC, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China )
 Christophe Thomazo ( CNRS, University of Burgundy, France )
  
(F)Extremephiles: Life in Extreme Environments
 Wayne L. Nicholson( University of Florida, USA )
  
(G)RNA and Molecular Biology
 Arturo Becerra ( Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico,
Mexico )
  

Examples of Special Talks by Distinguished Speakers:(as of November 13th, 2013)

 Kei HIROSE( Director, ELSI/Tokyo Tech )
 Norio KAIFU ( President, International Astronomical Union )
 Chris McKAY ( NASA Ames Research Center, USA )
 Shigenori MARUYAMA( Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology )
 Tairo OHSHIMA ( President, Institute of Environmental Microbiology)
  

Panel Discussion: "Astrobiology vs. Space Experiments and Exploration"
- Panelists -
(as of November 27th, 2013)

 Gerda HORNECK ( Honorary President, European Astrobiology
 Network Association, also at DLR )
  
 Hitoshi KUNINAKA( Professor and Program Director, JAXA/JSPEC,
 also Chair, JAXA Space Exploration Steering Committee, Japan )
  
 Chris McKAY( Chief Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center,
 also NASA Astrobiology Institute, USA (via teleconference) )
  
 Ken TAKAI( Program Director, Extremobiosphere Research Program
 at Institute of Biogeosciences, JAMSTEC )
  
 Akihiko YAMAGISHI( President, Japan Astrobiology Network, also
 Professor, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences )
  
 Hiroshi YAMAKAWA( Professor, Kyoto University, also Chair,
  JAXA/ISAS Space Engineering Steering Committee, Japan )
  

Final Schedule (as of November 27th, 2013):

Day-1Thursday, November 28, 2013
8:00-8:30Preparation
8:30 - 9:15ON-SITE REGISTRATION
9:15 - 9:45WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
9:45 - 12:00METEORITICS AND COSMOCHEMISTRY
12:00 - 13:30LUNCH TIME & POSTER VIEWING-: DAY-1
13:30 - 14:30SPECIAL LECTURES-1
14:30 - 16:00MOLECULAR CLOUDS AND PLANETARY FORMATION REGIONS
16:00 - 16:30GROUP PHOTO DAY-1 & COFFEE BREAK
16:30 - 18:30EARLY EARTH, GEOCHEMISTRY, AND PLANETARY ENVIRONMENT
  
Day-2:Friday, November 29, 2013
8:30 - 9:00ON-SITE REGISTRATION
9:00 - 9:30WEBCAST PRESENTATION-1(TBD)
9:30 - 11:55SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION AND EXPERIMENTS
11:55 - 13:30LUNCH TIME & POSTER VIEWING-: DAY-2
13:30 - 14:30SPECIAL LECTURES-2
14:30 - 17:00EXOPLANETARY SYSTEMS AND EXOPLANETS
17:00 - 17:30GROUP PHOTO DAY-2 & COFFEE BREAK
17:30 - 18:30POSTER SESSION-CORE TIME
18:30 - 20:30RECEPTION AT THE ISAS DINING HALL
  
Day-3:Saturday, November 30, 2013
8:30 - 9:00ON-SITE REGISTRATION
9:00 - 9:30WEBCAST PRESENTATION-2
9:30 - 11:00PANEL DISCUSSION:"ASTROBIOLOGY VS. SPACE EXPERIMENTS AND EXPLORATION"
11:00 - 11:15SHORT COFFEE BREAK
11:15 - 12:30LIFE IN EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS (1/2)
12:30 - 14:00LUNCH TIME & POSTER VIEWING-: DAY-3
14:00 - 14:50LIFE IN EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS (2/2)
14:50 - 15:20GROUP PHOTO DAY-3 & COFFEE BREAK
15:20 - 17:50RNA AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
17:50 - 18:10FINDINGS AND CLOSING REMARKS
18:10ADJOURN
  
Open Lecture Day:Sunday, December 1st, 2013
13:00 - 14:00Registration at the Lecture Hall
(Limited to 200 seats, FREE fee)
[Part-1: Mini-Lecture Series]
14:00 - 14:05Introduction: H. Yano (JAXA/ISAS)
14:05 - 14:25Talk-1: T. Naganuma (Hiroshima University)
14:25 - 14:45Talk-2: D. Horikawa (University of Paris 5)
14:45 - 15:05Talk-3: A. Yamagishi (Tokyo Univ. of Pharmacy & Life Sci.)
15:05 - 15:25Talk-4: M. Tamura (Univ. of Tokyo)
15:25 - 15:45Talk-5: S. Narusawa (Nishi-Harima Observatory)
15:45 - 16:35Panel Discussion
16:35 - 16:50Break
[Part-2: Dome Movie Teach-In]
16:50 - 17:00Entry at the Planetarium (Limited to 200 seats, 500 JPY/adult)
17:00 - 17:20Teach-In: K. Takai (JAMSTEC)
17:20 - 17:55Dome Movie: "Eternal Return"
17:55 - 18:15Q&A Session: K. Takai (JAMSTEC)
18:15Adjourn
  
Open Lecture HPat Sagamihara City Museum (Japanese Only)
  

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Registrations & Travel Grant

All the procedures are managed on-line by the "USRA Meeting Portal" system. Please follow the instructions below carefully.

Registration

 Thanks to our generous co-sponsors, the registration fee is free,
 but on-line registration is strongly recommended in order to define
 quantity of the participant packages.
 To register, please visit the "USRA Meeting Portal".
 There, on-line registration is open until November 21 in JST.
 After this date, only on-site registration is permitted but
 the participant packages will be provided by the first come first serve
 basis and they may run out.
  
 USRA Meeting Portal Registration Site: ( Create Account )
  
 * Important Note: If this is your first time to use the "Meeting
  Portal" system, you must create your personal account before starting
 registration and submission processes.
  
 On-line Registration (Closed on November 21, 2013) ( USRA Meeting Portal )

Travel Grants

   [Last updated on November 13th, 2013]
 International Travel Grants:
 All international travel grants have been allocated to qualified
 applicants and invited speakers, to whom the respective grant
 administration staff have already contacted. No further grants are available.
  
 Domestic Travel Grants:
 All qualified applicants for domestic travel grants have been identified
 by the LOC and session organizers. Amount of supports and administrative
 
  
 [Original Message]
 The travel grant can be awarded to any participants of this
 workshop who both apply for the grant and submit an abstract
 through the "USRA Meeting portal" system, by October 1st in JST.
 Priorities will be given to invited speakers from overseas and
 young speakers from Japan recommended by session organizers,
 but all the rest of scientific the applicants will be evaluated
 by the LOC for merit of the presentation, economical needs, and other factors.
 A total amount of awarded grants is determined by the LOC and it
 is not guaranteed to meet the estimated travel cost claimed above.

Meeting Reception

 [Last updated on November 13th, 2013]
 A casual meeting reception will be held at 18:30-20:30 on November
  29th Friday in the ISAS Dining Hall, right next to the meeting venue inside the Sagamihara Campus.This is a perfect time to
 get to know new colleagues from different astrobiology disciplines, cultures,generations, and regions of the globe.
 The ticket will cost 4,000 Japanese Yen per person which covers
 foods and soft/hard drinks and it will only be sold at the registration
 desk by cash (i.e., no credit cards nor cheques). You will be asked if
 you attend the reception when you first visit the registration desk upon your arrival.

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Abstract Submission

 [Last updated on October 14th, 2013]
 Abstract Submission Page at the USRA Meeting Portal Is Now Closed.
  
 [Original Message]
 Abstracts must be submitted through the "USRA Meeting Portal "
 system. Please use the template below.
  
  
 Word Document( USRA Format Abstract Template )

Publications

Abstract Volume:

   All accepted presentations are included their extended abstracts
  (USRA format of Letter Size x2 pages maximum) in the Abstract
 Volume and open at the workshop website. They will be included
 in theJAXA Repository system, after signing the upload permission
 document on site.
  

Presentation Archive:

   Also all presenters are kindly requested to provide their Power
 Point presentation materials (PPT or PDF files) to the LOC for
 academic archives. Given the presenter's permission, the
 presentation materials may also be posted on the workshop
 homepage for future references. Thus please edit confidential,
 copyright sensitive and other concerned materials in the
 presentation materials accordingly, before submitting them to
 the LOC.
  

Special Issue of an International Refereed Journal:

   If enough interests are raised among presenters, we will organize
 a special issue of an international refereed journal on astrobiology.
 Preliminary negotiations with some editorial board members are
 now in progress, together with some financial supports.
   The submission will be voluntary basis and the guideline and referee
  process will be consistent with normal papers in the same journal.
  
   In order to help the LOC for this negotiation, please kindly
 indicate your interests for the journal submission in the comment
 session of your registration page of the USRA Meeting Portal System,
 or email to the LOC secretariat. Even if you do not express your wish
 in the registration process, you still have a chance to submit until
 the due date, which will be announced at the workshop.
  

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Access & Accommodation

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science(ISAS)

 Access
  3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara,
 Kanagawa 252-5210 JAPAN
  

Sagamihara City Museum ( Right next to ISAS )

 Access(Japanese Only)
  3-1-15 Takane, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara,
 Kanagawa 252-0221 JAPAN
  

Accommodation

   JR Fuchinobe station is the nearest station to ISAS.
 The following is a short list of nearby hotels and all
 participants must reserve their accommodations by themselves.
  
-Toyoko INN ( Open web site )
- Hotel LiVE MAX ( Open web site ) Japanese only
-Hotel The Ellcy Machida ( Open web site )
  
   A very limited number of the ISAS Lodge guest rooms are available
 for accommodation on November 27th to December 1st.
 Priorities of the ISAS Lodge reservation are given to presenters
 who need financial supports, who apply for the travel grants.
  
-ISAS lodge ( ISAS web page )

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Important Dates

All the schedule is written in Japan Standard Time.

2013 
August 19The First Announcement
  
August 26Registration Starts
 Travel Grant Application Starts
 Abstract Submission Starts
  
October 01(23:59 in Japan Standard Time)
 Abstract and Registration Deadline for
 Grant Applicants
  
October 14(23:59 in Japan Standard Time)
 Abstract Deadline for the Rest
  
November 13Semi-Final Program Plan Announcement
  
November 21(23:59 in Japan Standard Time)
 Final Program Announcement and
 Close On-line Registration for the Rest (After this
 date, only on-site registration is available.)

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Contact Us

JABN6 Local Organizing Committee(LOC)

Chair: Akihiko YAMAGISHI
  (JABN Chair,Guest Professor of Dept. of Interdisciplinary
  Space Science, JAXA/ISAS, Professor of Tokyo University of
  Pharmacy and Life Sciences)
   
Vice Chair: Ken TAKAI
  (JABN Executive, Guest Professor of Dept. of Interdisciplinary
  Space Science, JAXA/ISAS, ELSI Principal Investigator,
  Program Director, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and
  Technology)
   
Members: Hirofumi HASHIMOTO
  (JABN Executive, Associate Professor of Dept. of
  Interdisciplinary Space Science, JAXA/ISAS)
   
  Hajime YANO
  (Assistant Professor of Dept. of Interdisciplinary Space Science,
  JAXA/ISAS)
   
  Masaki FUJIMOTO
  (Professor of Dept. of Solar System Science, JAXA/ISAS,
  ELSI Principal Investigator)
   
  Hitoshi KUNINAKA
  (Program Director of JAXA/JSPEC, ELSI Principal Investigator)
   
  Takao NAKAGAWA
  (Professor of Dept. of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics,
  JAXA/ISAS)
  
  Satoshi SASAKI
  (Professor, Tokyo University of Technology)
  
  Yuko KAWAGUCHI
  (Guest Researcher, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences)
   
  Makoto TABATA
  (Guest Researcher, JAXA/ISAS and Chiba University)
   
Secretariat: Hajime YANO
  [E-mail] yano.hajime_at_jaxa.jp
   

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