ISSCR Awards

The ISSCR is committed to celebrating the outstanding contributions of leaders in stem cell biology and translational medicine. In January we asked our membership for input on the awards program and evaluation process with the goal of recognizing the breadth of talented individuals across the globe. We sought to understand and learn from these conversations, and we would like to express our gratitude for your collective insights that have allowed us to evolve and improve our approach to the ISSCR awards program.  

We invite you to either nominate yourself, a colleague, or group for one of four ISSCR awards. Please help us recognize and celebrate your contributions in the fields of stem cell biology and translational medicine, across any sector, including academia, industry, non-profits, foundations, public health, and clinical settings. These awards are given to outstanding members of the stem cell community who also distinguish themselves in mentorship, collaboration, and inclusivity. Award recipients will be honored at the ISSCR Annual Meeting in Montréal, 8-11 July 2026. We look forward to your participation as we celebrate contributions across our thriving field. Nominations are due by 30 September 2025

  • Recognizes exceptional contributions by individuals or groups in the early stages of their careers. To be eligible for this award one should be within 10 years from the start of their independent position or professional career. Exceptions to the 10-year limit may be considered, such as extended family leave, medical issues, career interruptions, or other significant personal or professional factors. This request may be detailed in the nomination form. Note: this was formerly known as the Outstanding Young Investigator Award.

  • This mid-career award celebrates the visionary work of emerging leaders and the people behind it, whose initiatives hold the potential to reshape understanding, practice, or possibility in the field and whose innovative work shows strong potential for continued impact. Note: previous Outstanding Young Investigator Award winners are not eligible. 

  • This award honors individuals or groups who embody excellence in stem cell research through career-long scientific contribution, and dedication to the community. Note: this was formerly known as the Achievement Award. 

  • Recognizes extraordinary public service in the field through public engagement, mentorship, education, advocacy, science communication, and regulatory efforts. 

Nomination Form

The ISSCR invites nominations for each award via this form The questions are presented to all nominators and will solicit information about many dimensions of the nominee’s work: impact of their scientific pursuit, ability to overcome challenge, ethical practice, and dedication to mentorship, collaboration, national or international outreach, public engagement, and inclusivity. An up to 2-page CV is required. Additional supporting documents may include publications, patents, testimonials, trials, filings, governance, or policy documents, etc. Nominations may be submitted either by the individual nominee themselves or by someone else. The identity of nominators will not be shared with the review committee. 

If you nominate a group, rather than an individual, please adjust responses accordingly. The same criteria of evaluation will apply.  Please contact Glori Rosenson at grosenson@isscr.org with any questions.   

Past Recipients

For more than two decades, the ISSCR has recognized the outstanding achievements of stem cell researchers around the world and supported the next generation of leading scientists.

  • Yonatan Stelzer (2025)

    Jun Wu (2024)

    Takanori Takebe (2023)

    Jennifer E. Phillips-Cremins (2022)

    Madeline Lancaster (2021)

    Allon Klein (2020)

    Barbara Treutlein (2019)

    Shuibing Chen (2018)

    Jayaraj Ragagopal (2017)

    Fernando Camargo (2016)

    Paul Tesar (2015)

    Valentina Greco (2014)

    Marius Wernig (2013)

    Cédric Blanpain (2012)

    Robert Blelloch (2011)

    Joanna Wysocka (2010)

    Konrad Hochedlinger (2009)

  • Paola Arlotta (2025)

    Sergiu P. Paşca (2024)

    Cédric Blanpain (2023)

    Joanna Wysocka (2022)

    Valentina Greco (2021)

    Mitinori Saitou (2020)

  • Gordon Keller (2025)

    Fiona M. Watt (2024)

    Thomas A. Rando (2023)

    Lorenz Studer (2022)

    Janet Rossant (2021)

    Fred H. Gage (2020)

  • ISSCR Volunteer Leaders: Committees, Task Forces, Working Groups (2025)

    Peter W. Andrews & Tenneille Ludwig (2024)

    Christine L. Mummery (2023)

    Sean J. Morrison (2022)

    Robin Lovell-Badge (2021)

    Susan L. Solomon (2020)

    Eli and Edythe Broad (2019)

    Megan Munsie (2018)

    George Q. Daley (2017)

    Alan Trounson (2016)

    Paolo Bianco(2014) Co-Winner

    Elena Cattaneo(2014) Co-Winner

    Michele De Luca(2014) Co-Winner

    Hiromitsu Ogawa and Betty Jean Crouch Ogawa (2013)

    Rob and Cheryl McEwen (2012)

    Robert Klein (2011)

ISSCR Travel Awards

Students and postdocs who submit abstracts for the ISSCR Annual Meeting can be considered for a travel award to offset the costs of traveling to the meeting. Earning this award often is the difference-maker that allows a young scientist to attend the meeting. Let’s learn more about the science of these next gen researchers in their own words.

Travel Award selections are made by the ISSCR Membership and International Outreach Committee (MIOC) based on the strength of the abstracts from a pool of submitters who select to be considered for the award. To give even more students the opportunity to attend the ISSCR Annual meeting, consider giving to the Travel Award Fund.

Large group of people on stage at the ISSCR 2024 conference, with a large screen behind them displaying the event's logo and sponsor logos, including Hamburg, Bayer, and BlueRock Therapeutics.

The 2025 Annual Meeting Awards

Each year the ISSCR recognizes the significant research and achievements of scientists early in their career. Merit awards are given in recognition of exemplary abstracts; travel awards recognize scientific excellence. Congratulations to the 2025 award winners.

Poster Awardees


Sakurako Nagumo Wong
Institute of Molecular Biotechnology GmbH, Austria
Poster Title: CEREBRAL ORGANOIDS MODEL POSTNATAL INTERNEURON MIGRATION OF THE HUMAN CORTEX

Tomoaki Hirano
Kyoto University, Japan
Poster Title: DOT1L REPRESSES HUMAN PSC DIFFERENTIATION INTO DEFINITIVE ENDODERM

Rachel Battaglia
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, USA
Poster Title: NEUREXIN1 KNOCKOUT IPSC-DERIVED NEURONS DISPLAY HETEROGENOUS TRANSCRIPTOMIC EFFECTS ACROSS DIFFERENT GENETIC BACKGROUNDS

Yutong Wan
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Poster Title: MODELING HEREDITARY SENSORY AND AUTONOMIC NEUROPATHY TYPE IV (HSAN IV) USING HUMAN DRG ORGANOIDS DERIVED FROM PATIENT INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS

Merit Awardees


Anita Adami

Maria Araya Sapag

Maria Azkanaz

Rachel Battaglia

Celine Bueds

Giuseppe Calà

Marco Cortese

Jose Agustin Cota Coronado

Sarah Fernandes

Bruno Ghirotto

Tomoaki Hirano

Cameron Hunt

Jonathan Jung

Yunhee Kim

Jinwoo Lee

Sieun Lee

Paula Martos Salvo

Andrew Olander

Luisa Pinheiro

Norikazu Saiki

Chaitra Sathyaprakash

Ana Serna-Valverde

Asa Sherman

Irene Talon

Chenglei Tian

Maggie Wong

Jingdong Wu

Yicheng Wu

Tianchi Xin

Huaigeng Xu

Tatsuya Yamakawa

Min Yang

Yao Yao

Ying Zhang

Xing Zhen

Lixia Zheng

Xuehao Zhu

Travel Awardees


RECIPIENTS OF 2025 ISSCR ZHONGMEI CHEN YONG AWARDS FOR SCIENTIFIC EXCELLENCE

Anita Adami

Noura Aldous

Mohammad Alkhrayef

Maria Araya Sapag

Amar Azad

Dogantan Celik

Jungju Choi

Chieh Ju Chung

Katarina Cimborova

Marco Cortese

Miriana Dardano

Giorgia D'Ariano

Marlon Dias

Min Ding

Yali Ding

Pavel Docshin

Ekin Dogan

Anna Dowbaj

Gabriel Elizalde
Rui Fan

Sarah Fernandes

Beatrice Gabbin

Rituparna Ghanty

Bruno Ghirotto

Jiaming Guo

Rina Hashimoto

Jarmila Herudkova

Tomoaiki Hirano

Florian Hubl

Cameron Hunt

William Johnston

Jonathan Jung

Sayaka Kayumi

Ahri Kim

Minji Kim

Minjun Kim

Yunhee Kim

Shay Kinreich

Vincent Knight-Schrijver

Tim Kohler

Melissa Kosovari

Íñigo Lacunza

Chang Jie Mick Lee

Sieun Lee

Jinwoo Lee

Yunqing Lin

Fangchen Liu

Yumei Luo

Paula Martos Salvo

Ken Ning

Maria Rosaria Nucera

Carolina Nunes

Lotta Oikari

Andrew Olander

Silvia Perez Casasus

Emma Pesu

Chaitra Sathyaprakash

Pragati Saxena

Emanuel Segal

Ana Serna-Valverde

Trisha Shanta

Asa Sherman

Clara Siebert

Monica Silveira Wagner

Liang-Yu Su

Yu Bo Yang Sun

Yi Sun

Irene Talon

Chenglei* Tian

Larissa Traxler

Tomohiko Umei

Maggie Wong

Jingdong Wu

Jingqi Wu

Yicheng Wu

Tianchi Xin

Huaigen Xu

Jie Xu

Lixia Zheng

Xuehao Zhu

RECIPIENTS OF TRAVEL AWARDS SUPPORTED BY THE 2025 ISSCR TRAVEL AWARD FUND

Maria Azkanaz

Shahnaz Babaei Abraki

Evgeny Bakhmet

Alessandro Bellapianta

Oliver Bower

Celine Bueds

Divya Chandran

Giuseppe Calà

Laura Castilla-Vallmanya

Jose Agustin Cota Coronado

Kengo Matsuzawa

Cesar Merino

Yunqianqian Wen

Liam Wilson

Shuntaro Yamada

Tatsuya Yamakawa

Shang Chih Yang

Min Yang

Yao Yao

Shubo Yuan

Ke Zhang

Ying Zhang

Vladimir Zhemkov

Xing Zhen

Yuka Milton

Umaiya Muzaffar

Ittetsu Nakajima

Avital Pushett

Sarah Saietz

Norikazu Saiki

Carlos Sainz

Kagistia Hana Utami

Elise Van Breedam

Siebe Van Calster

Yueqi Wang

Zhe Wang

THE 2025 ISSCR TRAVEL AWARD FUND WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS DONATIONS FROM:

Allen Institute for Cell Science , Keith Alm, ISSCR, Anonymous , Asgard Therapeutics , Jeffrey Beekman and University Medical, Center Utrecht, Bernd Bodenmiller, Shuibing Chen, Weill Cornell Medicine, Ting Chen, Lygia da Viega Pereira, Shuangshuang Du, ISSCR, Norris Ray Dunn, Fate Therapeutics, Jacob Hanna, Katsuhiko Hayashi, Meritxell Huch and Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Makiko Iwafuchi, Kym Kilbourne, ISSCR, Dmitri Kullmann, Elisa Laurenti, Gabsang Lee, Tenneille E. Ludwig, Lund Stem Cell Center, Matthias Lütolf, Neurona Therapeutics, Jennifer Nicolas, Hideyuki Okano, Li Pang, Malin Parmar, Thomas A. Rando, UCLA, Glori Rosenson, ISSCR, Hans Schöler, Arun Sharma, Mark Tomishima, BlueRock Therapeutics, Ludovic Vallier, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Kai Xu

RECIPIENTS OF TRAVEL AWARDS SUPPORTED BY BLUEROCK THERAPEUTICS

Rachel Battaglia

Matthew Dominguez

Richard Giadone

Lily Guo

Giselle Kaneda

Eliana Lara Barba

Roni Sarel-Galily

Peiliang Wang

RECIPIENT OF TRAVEL AWARD SUPPORTED BY SONY

Litao Chang

Chuanxin Chen

Satomi Furukawa