Invitation The organizing committee welcomes you to the 7th Cherry Blossom Symposium (International Conference of Clinical Laboratory Automation and Robotics) held in Yokohama city, Japan. The Cherry Blossom Symposium is came from an international one held in the season of cherry blossoms. It will focus on laboratory automation and robotics, especially on clinical laboratory automation. In the world, big conferences on laboratory automation are held in the USA and Europe. In Asia, however, there had been no such conferences before 1998. The late Professor Emeritus Sasaki gave the 1st Cherry Blossom Symposium in 1998, Professor Emeritus Tadano in 2000, Professor Emeritus Kanno in 2002, Professor Gomi in 2004, Professor Kim in 2006, and Professor Sugiura gave the 6th in 2008. The next, 7th Symposium will be held in Yokohama, Japan, April 16-17, 2010. We hope this international conference on clinical laboratory automation will spread to all of Japan, Asian countries and worldwide. Yokohama is the second biggest city, very close to Tokyo, and has played important roles in Japanese history. It has modern, oriental, exotic and western culture. Sightseeing and cuisine are strongly recommended. The main theme of the 7th Cherry Blossom Symposium is “Innovation in Clinical Laboratory Automation”. Now we organize the program committee and proceed with the scientific program. We hope that you will enjoy scientific programs and this symposium. On behalf of the local organizing committee, I welcome all of you to Yokohama in April 2010. Masato Maekawa, MD, PhD Chairman Organizing Committee