Naoya Miyashita, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo
Travel Dates: March 5–11, 2026 | Destination: Cancún, Mexico
Overview
With the generous support of the Friends of UTokyo (FUTI) Travel Award, I had the privilege of attending the 4th Epithelial Mesenchymal Interactions in Lung Development & Fibrosis Conference (the “Fusion Conference”), held from March 7 to 10, 2026, at SLS Playa Mujeres in Cancún, Mexico. This international gathering brings together leading scientists working at the intersection of respiratory medicine, developmental biology, and stem cell research, all of which are central to my own research program. The trip also included an in-person meeting with Dr. Satoshi Konishi of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, on March 6.
Conference Participation and Oral Presentation
The Fusion Conference is one of the most respected international venues for researchers focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing epithelial and mesenchymal interactions in lung development, regeneration, and fibrotic disease. Participants include world-leading scientists working on lung epithelial stem cell biology, alveolar cell fate determination, pulmonary fibrosis, and lung cancer, topics that are closely aligned with my laboratory’s research directions.
I was selected to deliver an oral presentation on March 8, 2026, entitled: “Transcriptional Programs Orchestrate Lung Alveolar Stem Cell Fate Decisions During Regeneration and Tumorigenesis.”
This talk presented my recent findings on SOX4, a transcription factor that sits at a critical decision point between normal alveolar regeneration and malignant transformation. In healthy lung tissue, alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells serve as resident stem cells capable of self-renewal and differentiation to replenish the alveolar epithelium after injury. My work shows that SOX4 acts as a master transcriptional regulator controlling AT2 cell fate decisions, and that disruption of this program can shift the balance toward either pulmonary fibrosis or lung cancer. Presenting these findings to an international audience of lung biologists generated valuable scientific feedback and lively discussion about the wider implications for our understanding of respiratory disease.
Significance for Career Development
This trip marked an important milestone in my transition from a postdoctoral position at Duke University (2022 to 2025) to leading an independent research group at the University of Tokyo, where I joined as Assistant Professor in November 2025. Presenting our work on an international stage helped to raise the profile of our laboratory and to establish our group as an active contributor to the global effort to understand lung epithelial biology. The conference also offered a rich environment for building connections with established researchers and younger scientists from institutions around the world, and I expect these relationships to support future collaborations as I develop my research program in Japan.
Gratitude
I am deeply grateful to Friends of UTokyo and its supporters for making this travel possible. The FUTI Travel Award gave me the opportunity to engage with the international research community at a pivotal point in my career, and I look forward to building on the scientific exchanges and connections formed during this trip. I remain committed to advancing respiratory medicine research at the international level from the University of Tokyo.