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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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)
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Paola Arlotta (2025)
Sergiu P. Paşca (2024)
Cédric Blanpain (2023)
Joanna Wysocka (2022)
Valentina Greco (2021)
Mitinori Saitou (2020)
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Gordon Keller (2025)
Fiona M. Watt (2024)
Thomas A. Rando (2023)
Lorenz Studer (2022)
Janet Rossant (2021)
Fred H. Gage (2020)
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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.
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