The ISSCR Recognizes Outstanding Poster Award Winners at the ISSCR 2026 Annual Meeting in Montreal
The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has recognized five outstanding scientists with Poster Awards at the ISSCR 2026 Annual Meeting, honoring innovative research spanning developmental biology, disease modeling, regenerative medicine, and functional genomics.
Selected from more than 1,300 scientific posters presented during the meeting, the awards recognize exceptional research and scientific communication. Winning posters were evaluated by senior stem cell scientists attending the meeting, underscoring the rigor and peer recognition behind the awards.
The 2026 ISSCR Poster Award recipients are:
Holly Poling
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, USA
Engineering Functional Intestine: Fed-State Adaptation of iPSC-Derived Tissue in the Fecal Stream
This poster explored the engineering of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived intestinal tissue capable of adapting to physiological conditions within the intestinal environment, advancing approaches toward regenerative therapies for intestinal disease.
Ryan Walsh
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA
Modeling Schizophrenia in Forebrain Assembloids Containing Functional PV+ Cortical Interneurons
This poster focused on developed advanced human forebrain assembloid models containing functional parvalbumin-positive cortical interneurons to investigate the cellular mechanisms underlying schizophrenia.
Barbora Cerna
University College London, United Kingdom
Human Stem Cell-Derived Forebrain Assembloids as a Platform to Investigate the GABAergic Developmental Switch in SLC12A5-Related Epilepsy
The work presented uses human stem cell-derived forebrain assembloids to better understand the developmental changes in neuronal signaling associated with SLC12A5-related epilepsy, providing a platform for studying disease mechanisms.
Pranav Saligrama Ramesh
University of Calgary, Canada
Balancing FGF and WNT Signaling Activity Enables Reproducible Generation of Human Somitoids
This poster presented a strategy for reproducibly generating human somitoids by carefully balancing FGF and WNT signaling pathways, creating a valuable model for studying early human development.
Elodie Limberg
Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Germany
High-Throughput Mapping of Functional Interactions Between Cis-Regulatory Elements and Transcription Factors in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells
The research detailed in this poster introduced a high-throughput approach to map interactions between regulatory DNA elements and transcription factors, providing new insights into the gene regulatory networks that govern embryonic stem cell identity.
To further showcase their research, the award recipients are invited to participate in a special ISSCR webinar later this summer, where they will present their findings to the global stem cell research community. The webinar will provide an opportunity for scientists worldwide to learn more about these emerging investigators and the innovative research recognized at the ISSCR Annual Meeting.
About ISSCR
Across more than 80 countries, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (@ISSCR) is the preeminent global, cross-disciplinary, science-based organization dedicated to advancing stem cell research and its translation to medicine.