Greetings from the Presidents of the 12^th International Conference on the Biology, Chemistry and Therapeutic Applications of Nitric Oxide

Welcome to Sendai!

We are very glad to host the 12th International Conference on the Biology, Chemistry and Therapeutic Applications of Nitric Oxide in conjunction with the 22nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Nitric Oxide Society of Japan. The 1st International Nitric Oxide (NO) Conference was held in 2000 and has been held every two years. Because the 11th International NO Conference was unfortunately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the international gathering after four years’ absence. Hoping to welcome all participants in Sendai, we are going to arrange the conference in a hybrid style to cope with any possible smoldering outbreak of COVID-19.

Nitric Oxide (NO) was identified as a signaling molecule in 1980s. Since then, NO research has been influencing wide-ranging fields of life science, including chemistry, biology, medicine, pharmacology, oncology and molecular biology. Recent advances in chemistry and biochemistry revealed that NO reacts with reactive oxygen species and reactive sulfur species and plays an important role in the redox reaction network in vivo. With these new knowledges and achievements, NO research is evolving into comprehensive redox life science and forming a big trend of innovative research. Because the redox regulation, which is sometimes non-enzymatic, cannot be understood simply by DNA sequence information that determines primary structure of proteins, the comprehensive redox life science is one of the important academic fields in the postgenomic era.

According to the current evolutionary status of the NO research, this conference includes several sessions focusing on reactive oxygen species and reactive sulfur species in addition to NO. I sincerely hope that researchers from all over the world get together for active interaction and hot discussion on the redox reaction underlying physiological and pathological processes by NO and other reactive molecules. And I also hope you can enjoy good food, good drink and atmosphere of Sendai.

I am pleased to co-chair the 12th International Conference on the Biology, Chemistry, and Therapeutic Applications of Nitric Oxide in conjunction with the 22th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Nitric Oxide Society of Japan, with Prof. Hozumi Motohashi at Tohoku University.

Nitric oxide (NO) has been attracting attention as a gaseous signal mediator since research groups of Dr. Ignarro and Dr. Furchgott first discovered NO acting as a major endothelium-dependent vasorelaxant factor in 1986. In 1998, three researchers, Dr. Furchgott, Dr. Ignarro, and Dr. Murrad, who demonstrated that cGMP participates in the vasorelaxation mechanism of NO, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. After that, NO research has become even more active on a global scale. Reports of new findings in both basic and clinical research have appeared one after another. In fact, thanks to the development of cutting-edge technologies such as quantitative metabolome analysis of sulfur-containing biomolecules, the main targets of NO, and selective fluorescence imaging for various reactive molecular species, a new redox controlling mechanism that has been overlooked so far is being elucidated. The efforts of the pioneers who have contributed to the establishment and organization of The Nitric Oxide Society have led to the development of current redox research. I strongly hope that both senior and young researchers will get together to deepen discussions that transcend the boundaries of generations and specialized fields, and further develop this field.

It is a great honor for us to host the International Conference on the Biology, Chemistry, and Therapeutic Applications of Nitric Oxide here in Sendai, Japan. This conference will be held in a hybrid style. We really look forward to seeing you face-to-face, but you can also participate online depending on the pandemic situation of the new coronavirus. We hope that many researchers and students will participate and engage in active exchanges of the latest information.