Over the years, there have been numerous invited lectures and faculty visits by both sides to exchange expertise and identify potential areas for collaborative research, as the two share a common goal of advancing next-generation regenerative medicine. To this end, CiRA has hosted two IREM young scientists for research internships and, together with the Facility for iPS Cell Therapy (now part of the CiRA Foundation), organized a practical course on iPS cells for scientists from IREM, instrumental to the establishment of the iPSCore in Zurich, which supports basic and translational research by facilitating all aspects of iPS cell technology, including the derivation, differentiation and distribution of human iPS cell lines.

Despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, scientific exchanges and research collaborations continued with virtual lectures held online, resulting in a collaborative research paper in 2022 describing the generation of clinical-grade iPS cell-derived neural progenitor cells by IREM scientists using RNA switch technology developed by the Hirohide Saito Laboratory at CiRA. In addition, CiRA also transferred "universal" iPS cells produced by the Akitsu Hotta Laboratory to IREM for potential clinical applications.

In April 2024, a group of CiRA faculty and young scientists visited IREM and organized a CiRA-IREM Joint Workshop during the annual iPSZürich Symposium at the University of Zurich. Serendipitously, a joint review article on cell purification technologies by IREM and CiRA scientists was accepted for publication while the CiRA team was in Switzerland.

To continue this fruitful collaboration between CiRA and IREM, several young scientists and a faculty from IREM will visit Kyoto this fall for a short internship program at CiRA sponsored by the JST Sakura Science Exchange Program. In conjunction, a CiRA-IREM Joint Symposium titled "Driving Next-generation Cell and Gene Therapy" funded by the Kyoto University Strategic Partnerships will be held at Kyoto University on October 29, 2024, with invited lectures by IREM Director Dr. Simon P. Hoerstrup, as well as faculty including Drs. Christian Tackenberg, Ute Modlich, and Melanie Generali. In addition, invited lectures by CiRA principal investigators and poster and networking sessions will be held to facilitate scientific exchange and seed new research collaborations.

Please mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information about registration for the upcoming CiRA-IREM Joint Symposium.

• doi: 10.1186/s12967-022-03610-5

• doi: 10.1038/s44222-024-00220-2