This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of iPS cells, CiRA partnered with the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) to hold the international symposium, Pluripotency: from Basic Science to Therapeutic Applications. The event was held at Kyoto University and welcomed over 500 scientists to discuss the science of pluripotency, new technologies to study this science, and applications towards disease modeling and new therapies. "I am honored ISSCR chose to celebrate iPS cells in Kyoto," said Prof. Shinya Yamanaka, who gave the special lecture.

Although far from many other stem cell institutes, Kyoto's place in the field was reason enough for many leading scientists to travel half way around the world even though the symposium only lasted three days. "Every talk was excellent. It was very impressive to see how far stem cell therapy has come and very nice to see the labs," said Dr. Luc Douay, one of the guest speakers, who travelled from Paris to discuss his work on red blood cell therapies.

The symposium marks the first in Japan hosted by the ISSCR since 2012, when it had its annual meeting in Yokohama. Nancy Witty, Chief Executive Officer of the ISSCR, travelled to Kyoto and commented on the importance of the society's relationship with the country. "There is a lot of outstanding research here. We benefit from coming to see it firsthand and we hope to hold ISSCR meetings in Japan in future years," she said.

CiRA/ISSCR 2016 Symposium Speakers