History of APCC by Prof. Dr. Kiichi Fukui

In 1998, while the 18^th International Congress of Genetics was being held in Beijing, some chromosome researchers attending from Japan, China, Korea and Thailand, and who knew each other from previous international meetings, discussed the possibility of creating an Asian forum for chromosome researchers. An enthusiastic discussion followed and unanimously concluded with the decision to create a first Asian Chromosome Colloquium (ACC) to be held at Beijing. One of the reasons why an ACC was agreed upon is that there was already a long tradition of bilateral conferences between China and Japan initiated in 1987 at Beijing¹⁾ and in 1992 at Tianjin²⁾ by Profs. Hao Shui (Northeast Normal Univ.), Chen Ruiyang, (Tianjin Univ.), Hong Deyuan (Inst. Botany, Academia Sinica) Ryuso Tanaka, Kenji Taniguchi, and Masashi Nakata (all at Hiroshima Univ.).

Three years then passed without much apparent activity, however, until Chinese organizer Dr. Zhiyong Xin (Director General, Inst. Crop Breed. Cult., CAAS) and his local organizers led by Dr. Youzhi Ma (Inst. Crop Breed. Cult., CAAS) made concrete steps in turning ACC1 into reality. The international side of ACC1 was coordinated by Prof. Kiichi Fukui (Osaka Univ.) and his national secretariat, Drs. Takefumi Sone (Osaka Univ.) and Toshiyuki Wako (Natl. Inst. Agrobiol. Resour.) who visited Beijing to assist their Chinese counterparts. In Sept. 27-29, 2001, at the beginning of 21^st century, over 120 chromosome researchers gathered at the Beijing International Conference Center under the unifying theme of “Chromosome Science in the New Millennium”. All the foreign participants were impressed by the valuable presentations and enthusiastic discussion; they also greatly enjoyed the delicious traditional Chinese cuisine. The first proceedings of the ACC were published under the editorship of Prof. Fukui and Dr. Xin in 2002³⁾.

The second ACC (ACC2) was held at the International Culture Center of Chungnam University, Daejeon, Korea in May 20-22, 2004; the colloquium organizers were Profs. Jae-Wook Bang (Chungnam Natl. Univ.) and Yasuhiko Mukai (Osaka Kyoiku Univ.). ACC2 was held under the theme of “Chromosome Science in Post-Genome Era” with Prof. David M. Stelly (Texas A&M Univ., USA) as a guest speaker. Over 60 researchers and students gathered and enthusiastically discussed many topics in chromosome science. They also enjoyed delicious traditional Korean cuisine, which has become something of a good tradition of the ACC. The second proceedings were published under the editorship of Profs. Bang and Mukai in 2006⁴⁾.

ACC3 was held at MO Hall, Osaka University, Japan in Dec. 1-3, 2008, with over 170 participants from Japan, China, Korea, India, Turkey, Russia, Thailand, Philippines, Iraq, Indonesia, etc. Thus ACC3 was long remembered for the reason that the number of Asian nationalities attending was greatly expanded, reflecting the growth of the Asian region. The theme of ACC3 was “Development of Chromosome Research Network in Asia”. The organizers were Prof. Kenji Taniguchi (Hiroshima Univ.) and Dr. Xueyong Zhang (ICBC, CAAS) with three executive secretariats of Dr. Youzhi Ma (ICBC, CAAS), Profs. Yoh-ichi Matsuda (Hokkaido Univ.), and Takuto Koba (Chiba Univ.). All the participants enjoyed not only interesting presentations and discussion but, as usual, delicious traditional local cuisine. The proceedings of ACC3 was published under the editorship of Prof. Taniguchi and Dr. Zhang⁵⁾.

ACC4 returned to the home of ACC, Beijing, and was held at a resort hotel at Xiangshan in Beijing, where the first Sino-Japanese Symposium on Plant Chromosomes had been held in 1987. The colloquium was held in Oct. 11-14, 2010 with more than 200 participants. The theme was “Advances in Chromosome Sciences” and the organizer was Prof. Jinxiang Li (Vice President, CAAS) with executive secretaries Profs. Youzhi Ma and Xueyong Zhang (ICS, CAAS). All the participants greatly appreciated the organizer's heartfelt welcome and the smooth organization of the colloquium; they also enjoyed the delicious modernized Chinese cuisine on offer.

ACC5 was held on April 29^th –May 1^st, 2015 at the Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand. The colloquium was organized by Prof. Dr. Somsak Apisitwanich with executive secretaries Prof. Dr. Kornsorn Srikulnath from Kasetsart University, Prof. Dr. Shinji Kikuchi from Chiba University, Prof. Dr. Yasuhiko Mukai from Osaka Kyoiku University and Prof. Dr. Hitoshi Sato from the University of Tokyo. The theme of the colloquium was ‘new horizon by unifying of chromosome research’. Approximately 100 delegates participated to the ACC5.

In this colloquium, ACC extended by the joining of Australia and the name was changed to APCC (Asia Pacific Chromosome Colloquium). Delegates (Prof. Dr. Jennifer Graves) from Australia proposed to organize APCC6 in Canberra University of Australia and it was accepted by the international steering committee. 

International steering committee meeting during APCC5 in Bankok, Thailand

APCC6 was organized on July 1-4, 2018 at Canberra University of the Australia by Prof. Dr. Jennifer Graves and Prof. Dr. Tariq Ezaz. The theme of APCC6 was ‘from genomes to chromosomes: Bridging the gap’. and approximately 80 delegates participated to colloquium.

APCC7 was organized on November 25-27, 2020 at Busan, Korea by Emeritus Prof. Dr. Nam-Soo Kim from Kangwon National University of Korea and his colleague, Prof. Dr. Hyun-Hee Kim from Samyook University of Korea. APCC7 was held online due to Covid pandemic.

Prof. N S Kim (Right) and Prof. H H Kim (Left) of the Steering Committee at the APCC7.

We can be very proud of our good tradition in serving as a forum for chromosome researchers within Asian and Pacific countries by providing venues for meetings, discussion, and local specialties. The professors and doctors who have made great contributions to the organization of past ACCs already retired or are going to retire  soon. APCC8 will take place at a new venue, where we wish new members with new ideas to join the APCC. We do hope young researchers and students that participate in APCC8, will evolve a new style of APCC, one that is perhaps more fitting to the new Asian and Pacific era of science and technology, by learning something from the past history of the ACC.

References

1. Hong Deyuan, ed. 1989. Plant Chromosome Research 1987, Proceedings of the Sino-Japanese Symposium on Plant Chromosomes held at Beijing, China, October 6-11, 1987, Published by Organizing Committee Sino-Japan. Symp. Plant Chrom.,  Nishiki Print Co., Hiroshima, p.437.
2. Ryuso Tanaka, ed. 1994. Plant Chromosome Research 1992, Proceedings of the Second Sino-Japanese Symposium on Plant Chromosomes held at Tianjin, China, November 1-6, 1992, Published by Organizing Committee Second Sino-Japan. Symp. Plant Chrom., International Academic Publishers, Beijing, p.482.
3. Kiichi Fukui and Zhiyong Xin, eds. 2002. Advances in Chromosome Sciences vol. 1. Chromosome Sciences in the New Millennium. China Agricultrual Science and Technology Press, Beijing. p.485.
4. Jae-Wook Bang and Yasuhiko Mukai, eds. 2006. Advances in Chromosome Sciences vol. 2. Chromosome Sciences in the post Genome Era. Daeheung Press Inc., Daejeon. p.203.
5. Kenji Taniguchi and Xueyong Zhang, eds. 2010. Advances in Chromosome Sciences vol. 3. Development of Chromosome Research Network in Asia. The Chromosome Colloquium, Japan and The Society of Chromosome Research, Hiroshima. p.196.