After the BRC seminar, a party was held to celebrate the retirement of the three BRC Directors, Dr. Masatomo Kobayashi, Dr. Yukio Nakamura, and Dr. Atuso Ogura.

The 174th BRC Seminar was held at Moriwaki Kazuo Hall, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, and Zoom hybrid. Dr. Ogura gave a lecture, and Prof. Masato Ikawa of Osaka University and Prof. Takashi Shinohara of Kyoto University participated as panelists. Lecture: RIKEN BRC Commemorative Lecture: RIKEN BRC, Memories for Tomorrow 　Title: 23 years of support from people, laboratory animals, and developmental engineering Panel Discussion: Expectations for the BRC of Tomorrow

Repro2025 and the Final Public Symposium of “the Program of Totipotency” were held March 6-8 at the main auditorium of the National Institute of Genetics (Mishima, Shizuoka Pref.). Dr. Atsuo Ogura gave a lecture, and the following posters were presented. Opening Remarks: Atsuo Ogura, Project Leader Program Co-sponsored Memorial Lecture: Germ Cell Research: Past and Future Title: My Fortune to Face the Wonders of Life *Poster Presentation* Satoshi FUNAYA: Genome-wide analysis of histone variant H3.3 in mouse SCNT embryos Takaki TATEBE: Analysis of autophagy degradation systems in somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos

On Mar. 4, as part of Diversity initiatives to support active participation in the Tsukuba campus, a social event on the theme of “balancing work and child rearing” was held at the Moriwaki Kazuo Hall, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, and Zoom hybrid. RIKEN Tsukuba Exchange Meeting in FY2024 – Let’s talk about balancing work and childcare –

On Mar. 1, the fy2024 Kanto Branch Meeting of the JAEAT (Japanese Association for Experimental Animal Technologists) was held at the Industrial Promotion Kawasaki Hall (Kanagawa Pref.) and an online hybrid. Mr. Keiji Mochida gave a lecture. Symposium Theme: Multifaceted Laboratory Animal Reproduction Title: Efficiency of reproductive engineering work and breeding performance using inhibin antibodies.

Dr. Aya Uchida, The Jackson Laboratory Japan, Inc., visited our laboratory.

On Feb.12-13, Dr. Atsuo Ogura gave a plenary talk at FY2024 AdAMAS (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research of Innovative Areas, Platforms for Advanced Technologies ane Research Resources, Advanced Animal Model Support) Meeting held at Biwako Hotel (Otsu, Siga). Title: Developmental Engineering Technologies Supporting the Use of Laboratory Animals

On Feb. 12-13, an internship training was held for two graduate students at Pusan National University (Korea) by the Experimental Animal Division. They visited our lab to learn reproductive engineering techniques.

The 172nd BRC Seminar was held in the Moriwaki Kazuo Hall, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, and Zoom hybrid. Dr. Fumitoshi ISHINO Professor Emeritus, Institute of Science Tokyo Title: Impact of “gene acquisition” from viruses on the establishment of mammalian ontogeny