Serendipity Symposium 2021

Serendipity Symposium 2021 focuses on technologies and applications of next-generation cytometry. Topics covered in the symposium include, but are not limited to, the high-throughput, high-content, and high-dimensional aspects of diverse cytometry technologies (e.g., fluorescence microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, super-resolution imaging, microfluidics, deep learning) as well as a novel class of cytometric applications enabled by the technologies. The symposium will provide a valuable forum where researchers and engineers in both academic and industrial sectors will be able to share and discuss their most recent findings and understandings of basic principles, advanced techniques, and applications of next-generation cytometry. The symposium will be co-located with Pacifichem (International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies).

  • December 16-21, 2021
  • Waikiki, Hawaii, USA
  • Co-located with Pacifichem


Serendipity Symposium 2020 (December 15-16, 2020)


Despite the difficult times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Serendipity Symposium 2020 was held in Marinart, Shimizu, Shizuoka, Japan on December 15-16, 2020 to share and discuss recent findings and understandings of basic principles, advanced techniques, and applications of next-generation cytometry. The symposium was composed of 5 sessions: two oral presentation sessions about new technologies and applications, one session about guest talks, one poster presentation session, and one student presentation session. It was attended by a total of 73 people (mostly in person with partial Zoom-based participation) from all over the world.

Zoom Serendipity Seminars (April 24, May 29, June 26, July 30, September 17, 2020)


A series of Serendipity Seminars were held virtually in response to the global pandemic of COVID-19. Serendipity Lab members attended the seminars from all over the world. Ryo Iizuka (Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan), Kevin Tsia (Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Hong Kong, China), Han Wei Hou (Assistant Professor, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), and Masaki Anraku (Director, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and Institute of Gerontology, Japan) gave excellent talks about their cutting-edge technology and fantastic results.


Serendipity Workshop 2020 (June 17, 2020)


Serendipity Workshop 2020 was held as a virtual meeting on June 17, 2020 in response to the global pandemic of COVID-19. Participants connected over social media to create foundations for future collaboration. The workshop provided students, postdocs, and young scientists with opportunities to broadcast their work to a broader audience worldwide.


Attendance to SPIE Photonoics West (February 1-6, 2020)


Chief coordinator Prof. Keisuke Goda attended SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco along with his colleagues and gave a BIOS Hot Topics plenary talk about intelligent image-activated cell sorting on February 1, 2020 and an invited talk about high-throughput vibrational flow cytometry on February 2, 2020.


Visit to Chan Zuckerberg BioHub (January 31, 2020)


Chief coordinator Prof. Keisuke Goda visited Chan Zuckerberg Biohub in San Francisco along with his colleagues and gave an invited talk about intelligent image-activated cell sorting on January 31.


Visit to Carnegie Institute for Science (January 30, 2020)


Chief coordinator Prof. Keisuke Goda visited Carnegie Institue for Science at Stanford University in the San Francisco Bay Area and gave an invited talk about intelligent image-activated cell sorting on January 30.


Visit to OPTIC and National Chiao Tung University (December 4-7, 2019)


Hideharu Mikami, an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo, gave an invited talk at the Optics & Photonics Taiwan International Conference (OPTIC) at National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan. He also visited Prof. Chia-Wei Sun, the Taiwanese coordinator of Serendipity Lab, to give a talk and exchange ideas with researchers in the Department of Photonics at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.


Serendipity Seminar (November 28, 2019)


Dr. Rachel Won, an international editor of Nature Photonics, gave two inspiring talks titled "a professional career in scientific journal editing" and "writing and submitting the strongest paper". The event was co-organized by UTokyo SPIE Student Chapter, UTokyo OSA Student Chapter, XPS, ALPS, FoPM, and Serendipity Lab and attended by more than 120 people such as faculty, postdocs, and students who are interested in becoming editors or writing good papers. Luckily, Dr. Noriaki Horiuchi, another editor of Nature Photonics, was available to attend the event.

Serendipity Seminar (November 20, 2019)


Malcolm Kadodwala, a professor of chemistry at University of Glasgow in UK, gave an exciting talk titled "Chemical nanophotonics: from chiral sensing to spatially selective chemistry on the nanoscale" at the University of Tokyo on November 20, 2019.


Attendance to POEM (November 11-14, 2019)


Kotaro Hiramatsu, an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo, attended the 12th International Photonics and Optoelectronics Meetings in Wuhan, China to give an invited talk. He met and exchanged ideas with a few Chinese members of Serendipity Lab there.


Serendipity Symposium 2019 (November 9-11, 2019)


Serendipity Symposium 2019 (in other words, the full-global kickoff serendipity symposium), was held in Fukutake Hall at the University of Tokyo on November 9-11, 2019 to discuss the mission of Serendipity Lab and its 5-year plans. The symposium was composed of seven sessions: (1) IACS technologies (4 talks), (2) IACS applications (4 talks), (3) posters (20 posters), (4) microfluidic biotechnologies, (5) special guest talks, (6) student presentations (9 talks), (7) innovative technologies and applications. About 90 people including 7 coordinators from Japan, China, Korea, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and USA with diverse backgrounds at different research institutions attended and enjoyed discussing their research results, new ideas, and future plans.

Attendance to CNGC Symposium (November 8, 2019)


Chief coordinator Prof. Keisuke Goda attended the 2019 CNGC Symposium (Center for Next-Generation Cytometry) at Yeongbingwan Hall in Incheon, South Korea chaired by Korean coordinator, Prof. Tae-Hyun Yoon on November 8, 2019. Goda gave a plenary talk about intelligent image-activated cell sorting.


Attendance to MicroTAS (October 27-31, 2019)


Chief coordinator Prof. Keisuke Goda attended MicroTAS 2019 in Basel, Switzerland and gave a plenary talk about intelligent image-activated cell sorting on October 28, 2019. Goda also received Analytical Chemistry Young Innovator Award from American Chemical Society's journal, Analytical Chemistry.


Serendipity Seminar (September 30, 2019)


Nicolai Siegel, a professor of physiological chemistry at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, gave a fantastic talk about understanding cell-to-cell heterogeneity in pathogens, in particular Trypanosoma brucei, at the University of Tokyo on September 30, 2019.


Serendipity Seminar (July 24, 2019)


Gustavo Rohde, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering at the University of Virginia, gave an excellent tutorial about how to classify cell images at the University of Tokyo on July 24, 2019.


Serendipity Seminar (July 17, 2019)


Yan Li, a lab manager in Canadian Coordinator Prof. Robert Campbell's research group, gave a great talk about the research group and her work at the University of Tokyo on July 17, 2019.


Serendipity Seminar (July 10, 2019)


Christophe Danelon, an associate professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, gave a fantastic talk about how to build an artificial cell at the University of Tokyo on July 10, 2019.


Attendance to ANZNMF (July 1-3, 2019)


Chief coordinator Prof. Keisuke Goda and his colleagues (Sheng Yan, Kotaro Hiramatsu) attended the 10th Australia and New Zealand Nano and Microfluidics Symposium (ANZNMF) at the University of Wollongong in Australia chaired by Australian coordinator, Prof. Weihua Li from July 1 through July 3, 2019. Goda and Hiramatsu gave plenary and invited talks at the conference, respectively.


Visit to Macquarie University (June 30, 2019)


Chief coordinator Prof. Keisuke Goda and his colleague Sheng Yan visited Macquarie University where Australian player Ming Li works as a lecturer in the field of mechanical engineering. Since she joined this university a few years ago, she has been busy building a research group as well as her research career. We wish her the best of luck.


Attendance to CYTO (June 22-26, 2019)


Chief coordinator Prof. Keisuke Goda and his colleagues (Hideharu Mikami, Kotaro Hiramatsu) attended CYTO (the 34th Congress of the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry) at the convention center in Vancouver, Canada from June 22 through June 26, 2019. Goda gave a plenary talk at the conference.


Serendipity Seminar (June 12, 2019)


Kang-Hee Seol, a research assistant professor at Hanyang University and a member of the Center for Next Generation Cytometry (CNGC) in South Korea, gave an excellent talk about the CNGC's research activity at the University of Tokyo on June 12, 2019.


Serendipity Symposium (May 31, 2019)


The half-global kickoff serendipity symposium was held at the University of Tokyo on May 31, 2019 to discuss the mission of Serendipity Lab and its 5-year plans. We had three sessions: (1) IACS technology (4 talks), (2) IACS applications (4 talks), (3) other technologies (4 talks). About 70 people with diverse backgrounds at different research institutions attended and enjoyed discussing new ideas and future plans.