The RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center (QBiC), established in 2011, held its inaugural symposium “Toward whole-cell modeling” on 5–7 November 2012 in Kobe. Over 300 people came to hear the 26 speakers who represented not only countries from around the world, but also universities, research institutes, and private companies. Because this was QBiC’s first formal opportunity to share its research to an international audience, both RIKEN President, Ryoji Noyori, and former Osaka University President and philanthropist, Tadamitsu Kishimoto, gave introductory remarks about the vision and future of the institute.

Michael Sheetz, Director of the Mechanobiology Institute at Singapore (MBI), and Adrian Elcock, Professor at the University of Iowa, gave the keynote speeches on different days. The two talked about intracellular decision-making, but from different approaches – one experimental and one mathematical.

The symposium’s schedule made it very easy for young QBiC researchers to share their research with some of the best in the field, as many could be seen during the lunch and coffee breaks discussing their results with several of the invited speakers.