One of the worlds top scientists in the field of systems biology, Prof. Dr. Hiroaki Kitano, visited the young Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) on the 3rd and the 4th of May 2010.

The visit was accompanied by a talk of Mr. Kitano, given in the Batiment de Science in front of Luxembourgish scientists and students.

Hiroaki Kitano, Director of the Sony Computer Science Laboratory and President of the most renowned Japanese centre for systems biology, the Systems Biology Institute in Tokyo, was following an invitation of Antonio del Sol, Associate Professor in Bioinformatics at the LCSB. Together with Rudi Balling, director of the LCSB, the options for future collaborations were intensively discussed. Kitano, who was showing special interest in the Luxembourgish developments towards the focused field of ‘Systems Biomedicine’, met most of the LCSB scientists within the two days of his stay.

Beside the strategic alliance with Leroy Hood and the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) in Seattle, the LCSB is permanently widening its extensive network with international, leading institutions in the field of systems biology. It is part of the LCSB’s strategy, to foster a high level of international collaboration. The temporary exchange of talented young scientists is one of the core approaches to achieve this scientific adhesion. Recently two LCSB scientists are setting up their forthcoming research stay at the ISB in Seattle. Hiroaki Kitano was also showing interest in a possible exchange with Luxembourg.

In his talk, given on Campus Limpertsberg, Hiroaki Kitano offered a fascinating inside into his work. Questions of computational capacities, processing power and data storage were in the focus of interest in the afterward discussion.