The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) today opened its 2026 Annual Meeting in Montréal, bringing together thousands of scientists, clinicians, industry leaders, regulators, ethicists, and trainees from around the world for four days of scientific discovery, collaboration, and innovation across the stem cell field.
Co-sponsored by STEMCELL Technologies, ISSCR 2026 showcases the full spectrum of stem cell research from fundamental discoveries in developmental biology to emerging clinical advances, disease modeling, regenerative medicine, gene editing, and new technologies that are shaping the future of biomedical science.
Throughout the meeting, attendees will explore nearly 1,300 scientific posters, presentations spanning every area of stem cell research, and the latest tools and technologies featured in the Exhibit and Poster Hall, creating opportunities for new collaborations and the exchange of ideas across disciplines and career stages.
"Over the coming days, you will hear groundbreaking discoveries from established leaders and emerging investigators alike," said ISSCR President Hideyuki Okano in his opening remarks. "As stem cell science continues to advance at an extraordinary pace, this meeting reflects both the remarkable progress being made across basic and translational research and our shared responsibility to ensure these advances are developed responsibly for the benefit of patients worldwide."
The meeting opened with the first plenary, a Presidential Symposium designed by Prof. Okano. The plenary session, sponsored by the Centre for Research, Application and Training in Embryology (CReATE) at BRIC-inStem, featured internationally recognized pioneers whose discoveries have fundamentally reshaped stem cell biology and related technologies.
Among the speakers was Nobel Laureate Shinya Yamanaka, CiRA, Kyoto University and CiRA Foundation, Japan & Gladstone Institutes, USA, whose discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) transformed regenerative medicine by demonstrating that adult cells can be reprogrammed into a pluripotent state. His work established powerful new approaches for disease modeling and cell-based therapies that continue to advance toward clinical application.
Madeline Lancaster, Medical Research Council (MRC), UK, presented advances in human brain organoid technology, highlighting how these models have revolutionized the study of human brain development, neurological disease, and evolution by enabling complex biological processes to be studied in the laboratory.
Yukiko Gotoh, University of Tokyo, Japan, shared insights from her pioneering research on neural development, revealing molecular mechanisms that guide neuronal specification and circuit formation during mammalian brain development while providing new understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders.
Feng Zhang, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, USA, discussed next-generation genome engineering technologies, including CRISPR-based approaches that are enabling increasingly sophisticated strategies for genetic modulation and stem cell-based therapies for neurological disease.
To learn more about ISSCR 2026 visit www.isscr2026.org
