The biannual CiRA International Symposium was held on November 29-30, 2023, at Kyoto University Clock Tower Centennial Hall. This year's symposium, "Shin CiRA: The Voyage of Discovery by Having New Eyes," returned as an in-person event for the first time in four years. CiRA welcomed about 300 attendees from academia and industry from 10 different countries for two full days of lectures and poster presentations separated into three main themes: Basic Science, New Approaches, and Regenerative Medicine.

The event began with opening remarks from Professor Jun Takahashi, director of CiRA, who commented on the immeasurable importance of international collaborations in the face of global health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

CiRA Director Jun Takahashi gives opening remarks.

It was followed by the first keynote lecture, given online by Professor Katalin Karikó (University of Szeged, Hungary, and University of Pennsylvania, USA), one of this year's co-recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, who was introduced by CiRA Director Emeritus Shinya Yamanaka, a 2012 Nobel Prize laureate. She spoke about her long, winding journey to scientific success in pioneering RNA-based therapies and provided many inspiring messages for the next generation of scientists in the audience.

Prof. Katalin Karikó speaks about her scientific journey.

CiRA trainees, including graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, enjoyed lunch with the invited speakers during the "Meet the Experts" luncheon after Karikó's talk. In the afternoon, Professor Yi Lin (Mayo Clinic, USA) next introduced the basic and clinical research taking place at Mayo Clinic.

Her presentation was followed by "Basic Science" talks by Junior Associate Professor Mio Iwasaki (CiRA), Professor Makoto Nakanishi (University of Tokyo), and Associate Professor Yasuhiro Takashima (CiRA). Dr. Sheila Chari, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Cell Stem Cell, gave the last presentation on the first day, discussing her journal's publishing strategy and introducing a new manuscript submission system at Cell Press.

The first day's program ended with the first poster session, during which presenters shared their latest research advances with other attendees. The symposium welcomed over 60 research posters on stem cell biology and regenerative medicine.

Participants discuss latest research with poster presenters.

The program continued on the second day with a keynote lecture by Professor Martin Marsala (University of California, San Diego, USA), who showed a new delivery method for gene therapy to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in mice and a novel gene therapy-based approach to modulate neurotransmission in the spinal cord to treat trauma-induced spasticity and chronic pain.

During the following "New Approaches" session, Associate Professor Shunsuke F. Shimobayashi (CiRA), Assistant Professor Mari Ohnuki (Kyoto University, Japan), Junior Associate Professor Kazuo Takayama (CiRA), Associate Professor Kiichiro Tomoda (CiRA/Gladstone Institutes, USA), and Junior Associate Professor Risa K. Kawaguchi (CiRA) introduced their work on applying novel methods to make discoveries in stem cell biology.

The afternoon session included the second poster session and "Regenerative Medicine" talks by Professor Tobias Deuse (University of California, San Francisco, USA), Professor Tsuneya Ikezu (Mayo Clinic, USA), and Takahashi on their rigorous efforts in testing cutting-edge stem cell-based therapies.

To end the symposium, Professor Haruhisa Inoue (CiRA), as the program committee head, bestowed the Best Poster Presentation Award to Drs. Pan Gao, Yusuke Kojima, Takumi Okubo, and Hiroyuki Tamiya and gave the closing remarks. In thanking the participants, Inoue expressed his hope that everyone in attendance had gained new "eyes" from the symposium, through which they will make their next great discoveries.

Prof. Haruhisa Inoue, head of the steering committee for the symposium,
gives closing remarks.

This symposium was partly sponsored by iPS Academia-Japan, Inc., Orizuru Therapeutics, Inc., Axcelead, Inc., and the T-CiRA Joint Program for iPS Cell Application.

CiRA will organize the next international symposium in 2025 in hopes that many will join us again for this magnificent opportunity for scientific exchange.

Invited speakers and chairs pose on the stage of the main hall.

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