Image title: Depressive symptoms are common among high school students
Image caption: Many school programs have been developed to combat depressive symptoms, but most fail to accommodate the needs, time constraints, and individual experiences of older high school students.
Image credit: userpilot1 from Openverse
Image source: https://openverse.org/image/e392c616-886d-47e4-94e4-18d4b93a0003?q=girl,+upset&p=12
License type: CC-BY 2.0
Usage restrictions: Credit must be given to the creator.

Title: The Politics of Conformity in Japan by Yukiko Nishikawa
Credit: Taylor & Francis
Usage Restrictions: Credit must be given to the creator. Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted. No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.
License: CC BY-NC-ND

Dr. Biplab Kumar Dash, Professor Yasuomi Urano, and their research team have uncovered a novel secretion mechanism of an unconventional Parkinson’s disease-related protein mediated by autophagy and secretory autolysosomes.

Proteins are conventionally trafficked and secreted extracellularly via the endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi pathway. Some proteins that bypass this system and use unconventional mechanisms to exit the cell have been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, inflammation, and cancer. Researchers have elucidated a novel role of autophagy mediated by the formation of “secretory autolysosomes” in the release of PARK7—a protein associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Their findings uncover potential pathogenic mechanisms, early biomarkers, and therapeutic targets.

Reference

Biplab Kumar Dash, Yasuomi Urano, Yuichiro Mita, Yuki Ashida, Ryoma Hirose, Noriko Noguchi, Unconventional secretion of PARK7 requires lysosomal delivery via chaperone-mediated autophagy and specialized SNARE complex, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025, Vol. 122 No. 19 
DOI :10.1073/pnas.2414790122

For more details, please see the website of Organization for Research Initiatives and Development, Doshisha University. 

https://research.doshisha.ac.jp/news/news-detail-76/
https://www.doshisha.ac.jp/news/detail/001-26Qmmn.html

This achievement has also been featured in the “EurekAlert!.”

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1084893

Image title: Proposed model of 6-OHDA-induced autophagy-based unconventional PARK7 secretion.
Image caption: Oxidative stress induced by 6-OHDA stimulates autophagy flux, which enhances STX17-mediated autolysosome formation, leading to the degradation of autophagosomal contents. However, in response to autophagy promotion by 6-OHDA, a subset of autophagosomes recruits ERGIC R-SNARE SEC22B. The KFERQ-like motifs of monomeric PARK7 selectively bind to HSPA8 chaperones and are recruited to the lysosomal membrane, followed by translocation into the lysosomal lumen via the LAMP2 channel. A pool of PARK7-containing lysosomes fuses with SEC22B-containing autophagosomes to form secretory autolysosomes, which then fuse with the plasma membrane mediated by a unique QabcR–SNARE complex comprising STX3/4, VTI1B, STX8, and SEC22B, releasing PARK7 into the extracellular matrix.
Image credit:  Dr. Biplab Kumar Dash from Doshisha University, Japan
Source link: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2414790122 
License type: CC BY-NC-ND
Usage restrictions: Credit must be given to the creator. Only non-commercial uses of the work are permitted. No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.

Image title: Overview of the study exploring the link between sarcopenia and cognitive decline 
Image caption: This work investigated how various indicators of muscle quality, mass, and strength were related to cognitive parameters in middle-aged and older adults. The results showed that phase angle—an indicator of muscle quality that is very convenient to measure—was strongly related to cognitive decline.  
Image credit: Postdoctoral Researcher Kentaro Ikeue from Doshisha University, Japan
License type: CC-BY 4.0
Usage restrictions: Credit must be given to the creator.

Image title: Inhibiting a specific downstream effect in the RANK-TRAF6 signaling pathway
Image caption: Rather than completely blocking all downstream signals, the peptide developed in this study focuses on inhibiting the activation of p38-MAPK. This is enough to downregulate the development of mature osteoclasts without affecting unrelated biological processes as a side effect.
Image credit: Professor Kiyotaka Nishikawa from Doshisha University, Japan
License type: Original content
Usage restrictions: Cannot be reused without permission.

On March 11 (Tuesday) and 12 (Wednesday), 2025, Doshisha University, in collaboration with the University of Tübingen, held the 5th International Interdisciplinary Symposium. The symposium took place at the Kambaikan Hardy Hall and the Ryoshinkan R305 at Doshisha University.

The theme of this symposium was “Humans and AI: Coexistence and Conscience – Toward a Future Where Humans and AI Develop Together for the Improvement of Society.” Researchers from various fields at Doshisha University and the University of Tübingen engaged in multi-perspective discussions.

During the keynote speech at Kambaikan Hardy Hall, President Katsuhiro Kohara of Doshisha University delivered a lecture titled “AI and Conscience: From the Perspective of Religious and Cultural Diversity.” During his lecture, President Katsuhiro Kohara emphasized the importance of constructing environmental ethics in light of the ongoing societal shift from natural and cultural environments to a digital one. He discussed how this transition calls for thoughtful consideration of environmental ethics in the midst of these changes. Professor Katja Schenke-Layland, Designated Vice President of the University of Tübingen, spoke about the Tübingen AI Center, a hub for AI in Europe, and the ELLIS-Institute Tübingen, a European network of excellence focusing on fundamental science, technological innovation, and societal impact. She highlighted how these initiatives are creating excellent research environments to attract top-level machine learning researchers from around the world.

In Panel 1, discussions were held on the transformative effects of large language models (LLMs) on communication and community-building, social robots and their role in communication, and the potential of AI’s massive visual data processing and modeling of neural processes. Ethical challenges in communication were also discussed.

On the following day, Panel 2 focused on the applications and developments of AI in space technology and medical sciences, while Panel 3 addressed legal issues surrounding regulation in marketing and organoid intelligence.

The symposium saw a total of 110 participants, including graduate students, engaging in lively discussions. New connections were formed in each of the thematic panels. The DU-UT Symposium is expected to contribute to the further development of research collaboration between both institutions.

Program

Keynote Lecture I

Keynote Lecture II

Discussion

Panel Ⅰ　【Humans and AI】

Panel II　【AI in Space Technology】

Panel II　【AI in Medical Sciences】

Panel III　【AI and Legal Challenges】

Group photo

Title: Comparison between the proposed computer-automated assessment method and the established manual scoring method
Caption: The good linearity depicted in this plot indicates excellent agreement between manual scoring and fully automated scoring, showcasing the potential of the proposed system.
Credit: Michael McGuire from Doshisha University, Japan
Image license: CC BY 4.0
Usage restrictions: You are free to share and adapt. Attribution is required.

Image title: Instantaneous streamwise velocity fields with Galilean transformation by the half bulk velocity in the x-y plane
Image caption: Visualization of instantaneous streamwise velocity fields in the x-y plane for different Weissenberg numbers (Wi = 0.0, 0.019, 0.022). The meandering motion emerges at higher Wi, enhancing turbulence and heat transfer in the backward-facing step flow.
Image credit: Dr. Shumpei Hara from Doshisha University, Japan
Image link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0017931025001346?via%3Dihub
License type: CC BY 4.0
Usage restrictions: You are free to share and adapt. Attribution is required.

Title: vmTracking enables accurate identification in crowded environments
Caption: Conventional markerless tracking methods struggle with body part misestimations or missing estimates in crowded spaces. In vmTracking, markerless multi-animal tracking is performed on a video containing multiple individuals. The resulting tracking output may not always be fully accurate. However, since some of these markers are extracted and used as virtual markers for individual identification, high overall accuracy at this stage is not required. By applying single-animal DeepLabCut to the generated virtual marker video, more accurate pose-tracking results can be obtained compared to conventional methods.
Credit: Hirotsugu Azechi from Doshisha University, Japan
Image license: Original content
Usage restrictions: Cannot be used without permission

Image title: Overview of the proposed mechanism of 25-OHC-induced ferroptosis 
Image caption: This image summarizes the main findings of the study, showing the multifaceted effects that exposure to 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-OHC) has on Schwann cells. 
Image credit: Professor Yasuomi Urano from Doshisha University, Japan
License type: CC BY 4.0
Image source link:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891584925000103?via%3Dihub
Usage restrictions: You are free to share and adapt but credit must be given to the creator.