On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we welcome you to Tokyo, Japan.

Oxygen is a molecule that keeps us alive. We take oxygen from the air, combine it with hemoglobin in the lungs, and transport it through the blood to tissues. Oxygen carried to tissues is used in cells as an energy source for vital activities. When reaching the tissue destination, oxygen released from hemoglobin is thought to be transported to mitochondria by diffusion that depends on the gas concentration gradient. But the physical law of diffusion is too slow to transport oxygen, and the transport of oxygen through the concentration gradient is greatly restricted in terms of effective transport to the required tissue site. Therefore, one can say that the structures and functions of living organisms have evolved to overcome these physical limits associated with oxygen transport and to have optimized oxygen transport. This international conference aims to elucidate the mechanisms for sensing, transporting and metabolizing oxygen in living organisms and to apply them to clinical challenges.

This is the third time ISOTT has been hosted in Japan. The first Japan ISOTT was organized by Professor Masaji Mochizuki in Sapporo (ISOTT 1987), and the second was hosted by Professor Eiji Takahashi and Professor Mamoru Tamura in Sapporo (ISOTT 2008). After 15 years, it is a great honor for us to host ISOTT 2023 in Tokyo.

ISOTT 2023 will be held during September and October, the months over which Tokyo transitions from summer to fall. Traditional festivals are held to celebrate the arrival of fall flowers and food of this season. So you can enjoy Tokyo — a unique metropolis that mixes tradition and modernity — in the best season. Please look forward to scientific exchanges at the UEC campus and sightseeing in Tokyo.

Kaoru Sakatani & Kazuto Masamoto

Co-presidents of ISOTT 2023

Thank you for coming!!