Where is the location of our mind? It probably resides in the milky-white substance that sits inside your skull. But the half of the brain is glia. Let's, for the sake of argument, assume that our mind is embedded in these glial cells. What would be your counterevidence?
The purpose of this framework is to stimulate mutual exchange visits of young researchers of glial research. The collaborative research between Japan and German will be carried out by the young researchers. Applicants must be graduate students or have obtained a Ph.D. degree within the past five years. The collaboration must be approved by the priciple investigators on both sides but the original proposal and execution of the research itself must be done by the young researchers.
The last "Young Glia"
Here, on March 2018, we would like to announce the conclusion of the 3 and half year project of the original "Young Glia". We thank the Glial Assembly in Japan and Glial Heterogeneity in Germany for their generous support of the international collaborations between the young scientists of glial research.
A new hope and the return of the "Young Glia"
We wait for the whole new framework of the innovated "Young Glia" project to awaken. This time it would be even more international. The "Young Glia 2.0", the "Young Glia International", the "Young Glia Universe" or whatever the new name would be, we expect it to be phenomenal. The new "Young Glia" will stay as a fixed framework which will never expire. We expect "Young Glia" to be supported and budget to be injected into this enveavor from generous sources from across the globe. We wait for the new generations to join in our effort for new scientific discoveries of glial research.
Scientific revolutions are always executed by the young generations. Our mission is to support the seeds of inovation. Let go of "neuroscience", we are pursuing "brain science".
The purpose of this framework is to stimulate mutual exchange visits of young researchers of glial research. The collaborative research between Japan and German will be carried out by the young researchers. Applicants must be graduate students or have obtained a Ph.D. degree within the past five years. The collaboration must be approved by the priciple investigators on both sides but the original proposal and execution of the research itself must be done by the young researchers.
Application for the first collaborative exchange program were made on January 11, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. See the link for the list of selected.
Application for the second collaborative exchange program should be made on May 31, 2016 in Homburg, Germany. See the link for the list of selected.
このたび、日本の新学術領域研究「グリアアセンブリによる脳機能発現の制御と病態（グリアアセンブリ）」は、国際共同研究加速基金（国際活動支援班）に採択されました。そこで、ドイツのグリア研究コンソーシアム（Glial Heterogeneity、Network Glia）と連携し、若手研究者の国際共同研究の促進を目的とした助成制度を立ち上げました。日本とドイツの若手研究者が研究課題を共同申請し、１年度あたり上限１００万円の助成を、２年間受けられる制度を想定しています。今後、Young Glia の会を適宜開催していきますが、会の当日、日独の若手同士が意気投合して、共同研究の提案に至ることを歓迎します。また、本ホームページ等を通して、ある程度、事前にお互いの情報を交換できるようにし、若手による共同研究提案の一助としたいと思います。なお、この若手同士の共同研究は、日独双方の研究室主宰者（PI）の了承の元に行うものとします。
The final "Young Glia" meeting, in its current form, was held in Atami, Kamakura, and Hongo in Japan. We expect a new chapter of "Young Glia" to follow closely and will provide even wider international collaboration of glial research.
Jan 8 will be the public symposium of "Glial Assembly". "Glial Assembly" research group meeting will be held on Jan 9. The 1st "Young Glia" meeting will be held subsequently on Jan 10 and 11. Based on the proposal given on Jan 11, the collaboration program for the fiscal year 2015 (from April 2015 to March 2016) will be selected and executed. We wait for the original proposal given by the young researcher who are still in graduate school or who holds the Ph.D. status for less than 5 years.
The Japan side of the first committee meeting was held at Keio University (Tokyo) to discuss about the execusion of this international endeavor. The practical core of this framework will be handled by the younger generation faculty members and Dr. Ikenaka will stand as an advisor and observer. The chairperson of this executive committee was decided to be Dr. Kenji F. Tanaka.
Agreements were made between Dr. Kazuhiro Ikenaka and Dr. Frank Kirchhoff in a two-top Paris conference to originate a new research framework of future glial research. The name of this framework was decided as "Young Glia".
Dr. Frank Kirchhoff (University of Saarland) and Dr. Christine R. Rose (Universität Düsseldorf) organized the first "Glial Heterogenity" meeting at Düsseldorf (Germany). Japanese glial researchers, Drs. Kazuhiro Ikenaka, Hiroaki Wake, Ko Matsui, and Hajime Hirase were invited to this meeting. This event marks as a hallmark of the initiation of long-term collaborative efforts between Germany and Japan.
Dr. Frank Kirchhoff (University of Saarland) and Dr. Hajime Hirase (RIKEN) organized Workshop I "Imaging glial activity" at XI European Meeting on Glial Cells in Health and Disease (Euroglia) in Berlin (Germany). One of the current executive committee member of the "Young Glia", Dr. Ko Matsui (Tohoku University), was also invited to give a talk. The idea of German-Japan collaboration hatched at this event.
