Explore the World Expo: Significance of the Event / Venue to Share Solutions to Medical, Environmental Challenges Threatening Future of Humanity

By Yuya Matsuda and Shunsuke Matsuda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

7:00 JST, December 23, 2024

This is the second installment of a series on the significance of the World Expo.

***

World Expos, which started to be held in the 19th century, had a major element of being a fair where each participating country competed to display its prowess in science and technology.

In response to a wave of globalization, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) decided in 1994 for each Expo to establish a theme that would respond to the needs of a modern society. Since then, Expos have transformed into venues for the international community to share solutions to global issues facing humanity, such as those pertaining to the environment, food and energy.

“Science can save lives from diseases and disasters. That is what can lead to the happiness of mankind,” Hiroshi Kawamoto, a professor at Kyoto University’s Institute for Life and Medical Sciences said emphatically.

The theme of the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo is “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” because universities and research institutes that are strong in advanced medical technology are concentrated in the Kansai region.

At the Expo, Rebirthel Co., a Kyoto-based regenerative medicine venture firm founded by Kawamoto, will exhibit images of killer T cells targeting cells infected by viruses such as COVID-19. Killer T cells are immune cells created from iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cells or embryonic stem cells.

In 2013, Prof. Kawamoto succeeded for the first time in the world in producing killer T cells from iPS cells that attack cancer cells. Killer T cells may also be useful for treating infectious diseases such as COVID-19 because the virus can be repelled by introducing a gene that recognizes virus-infected cells into killer T cells.

This immunotherapy can also be used against unknown infectious diseases, and the goal is to deliver it to patients as a cure within 100 days during the next pandemic. “Potent killer T cells can be by far the strongest of all immune cells as the ultimate treatment. I want to show the next generation what future medicine will look like,” Prof. Kawamoto said.

One of the challenges threatening the future of humanity is extreme heat caused by increasingly serious climate change. In Japan, the number of deaths from heatstroke exceeds 1,000 every year, and there are growing concerns about the Expo’s management during the summer months.

An industry-academia team, which includes a team from Kobe University, has developed a technology to predict the risk of heatstroke on the following day with high accuracy. Using a supercomputer, the risk will be calculated in detail for each area of the venue based on 3D data at the Expo site and daily weather data. The team plans to use this technology as countermeasures against heatstroke during the Expo.

Kobe University Prof. Satoru Oishi said, “Children are particularly vulnerable to the impact of heat. We want to show how society should protect the lives of all generations.”

The World Bank estimates that over 200 million people will be forced to migrate by 2050 due to environmental issues such as sea level rise. Kenro Taura executive director of Kiko Network, NPO based in Kyoto working to prevent climate change, said, “It is necessary to share a sense of crisis at the Expo, where many people will be in attendance.”

The question is how far we can show the path to brighten the lives of future generations.