
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meetings
From 8 May 2020 to 25 March 2021, the ISSCR hosted weekly or bi-weekly networking meetings to connect researchers using stem cells to understand SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 treatment. Every meeting featured 3-4 scientists who shared their latest results, resources, and strategies to accelerate research and help forge new collaborations with scientist across fields with complimentary expertise.
Over the course of 11 months, 120 scientists from 17 countries shared their latest results and strategies to over 800 researchers from 47 countries in attendance through 37 meetings.
Many thanks to all for your participation and contributions to this successful networking series!
Past Meetings
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #37
25 March, 2021
Chairs: Shuibing Chen, PhD and Todd McDevitt, PhD
- Modeling SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Its Individual Differences With Human iPS Cell Panels - Kazuo Takayama, PhD, CiRA, Kyoto University, Japan
- Lightning Round Updates and Perspectives:
- Christine Mummery, PhD, Leiden University, Netherlands
- Shuibing Chen, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College, USA
- Charles Murry, MD, PhD, University of Washington, USA
- Pam Robey, PhD, NIH, USA
- Li Qian, PhD, UNC School of Medicine, USA
- Todd McDevitt, PhD, Gladstone Institutes and UCSF, USA - Series closing - Shuibing Chen, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College, USA
- Todd McDevitt, PhD, Gladstone Institutes and UCSF, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #36
11 March, 2021
Chairs: Hans Snoeck, MD, PhD & Todd McDevitt, PhD
- SARS-CoV-2 Drug Screening - Adolfo García-Sastre, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA
- SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Bottlenecks and their Implications - Katia Koelle, PhD, Emory University, USA
- Human Tissue Immunity and COVID-19 - Donna Farber, PhD, Columbia University Irvine Medical Center, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #35
25 February, 2021
Chairs: Hans Snoeck, PhD & Todd McDevitt, PhD
- Structural Basis of RNA Cap Modification by SARS-CoV-2 - Yogesh Gupta, PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center, USA
- Sex Differences in COVID-19 - Lisa Cassis, PhD, University of Kentucky, USA
- Common Genetic Variation in Humans Impacts in vitro Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 Infection - Kristen Brennand, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #34
11 February, 2021
Chairs: Hans Snoeck, MD, PhD & Todd McDevitt, PhD
- Recent Work on a Live-Attenuated YF-Vectored SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine - Johan Neyts, PhD, KU Leuven, Belgium
- Progenitor Identification and SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Human Distal Lung Organoids - Catherine Blish, PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine, USA
- Tropism of SARS-CoV-2 for Developing Human Cortical Astrocytes - Arnold Kriegstein, MD, PhD, UCSF, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #33
28 January, 2021
Chairs: Shuibing Chen, PhD & Todd McDevitt, PhD
- Compromised humoral functional evolution tracks with SARS-CoV-2 mortality- Douglas Lauffenburger, PhD, MIT, USA
- Robust neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 infection persist for months - Florian Krammer, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA
- Modeling COVID-19 Projections - Jeffrey Shaman, PhD, Columbia University, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #32
14 January, 2021
Chairs: Shuibing Chen, PhD & Hans Snoeck, MD, PhD
- Versatile and Multivalent Nanobodies Efficiently Neutralize SARS-CoV-2 - Yi Shi, PhD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA
- The Coding Capacity of SARS-CoV-2 - Noam Stern-Ginossar, PhD, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
- RNA Reverse-Transcribed and Integrated Into the Human Genome - Rudolf Jaenisch, MD, MIT, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #31
Special End of Year Session 17 December, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD, Shuibing Chen, PhD, Todd McDevitt, PhD, and Hans Snoeck, MD, PhD
- SARS-CoV-2 and the Molecular Biology Underlying Systemic Inflammation - Benjamin R tenOever, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA
- Organoid Models of SARS-CoV-2 Infections - Hans Clevers, MD, PhD, Hubrecht Institute, Netherlands
- Panel Discussion on COVID-19 Research: Remaining Questions and How Stem Cells Can Help Address Them:
- Christine Mummery, PhD, Leiden University, Netherlands
- Shuibing Chen, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College, USA
- Todd McDevitt, PhD, Gladstone Institutes & UCSF, USA
- Hans Snoeck, MD, PhD, Columbia University Medical Center, USA
- Benjamin R tenOever, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #30
10 December, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD & Shuibing Chen, PhD
- SARS-CoV-2 Non-Coding RNA Elements Protect Viral mRNAs From Host Cell Shutoff - Mitchell Guttman, PhD, CalTech, USA
- In Vitro Screening of a FDA Approved Chemical Library Reveals Potential Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Replication - Bruno Coutard, PhD, Aix-Marseille Université, France
- A Phase I/II Study of Human Placental Hematopoietic Stem Cell Derived Natural Killer Cells for the Treatment of Adults With COVID-19 - Xiaokui Zhang, PhD, Celularity, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #29
3 December, 2020
Chairs: Todd McDevitt, PhD & Hans Snoeck, MD, PhD
- SARS-CoV-2 Membrane Fusion Inhibitors - Anne Moscona, MD , Columbia University, USA
- A Molecular Pore Spans the Double Membrane of the Coronavirus Replication Organelle - Montserrat Bárcena, PhD, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands
- Human Lung Stem Cell-Based Alveolospheres Provide Insights Into SARS-CoV-2 Mediated Interferon Responses and Pneumocyte Dysfunction - Purushothama Rao Tata, PhD, Duke University School of Medicine, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #28
19 November, 2020
Chairs: Todd McDevitt, PhD & Hans Snoeck, MD, PhD
- Sex Differences in Immune Responses That Underlie COVID-19 Disease Outcomes - Takehiro Takahashi, MD, PhD, Yale School of Medicine, USA
- Identification of SARS-CoV-2 Inhibitors using Lung and Colonic Organoids - Todd Evans, PhD, Weill Cornell Medicine, USA
- Are Human Embryos Vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 Infection? - Warner Greene, MD, PhD, Gladstone Institutes & UCSF, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #27
12 November, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD
- Unexpected Features of Cardiac Pathology in COVID-19 Infection - Richard S. Vander Heide, MD, PhD, LSU Health Sciences Center, USA
- Roles of Non-Self-Reactive Antibodies in Protecting the Lung and Cross-Reactive SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Neuropathology - Jakob Kreye, MD, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Germany
- Animal Models for SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Vaccine Development - Dan H. Barouch, MD, PhD, Harvard Medical School, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #26
5 November, 2020
Chairs: Todd McDevitt, PhD & Hans Snoeck, MD, PhD
- Global Evaluation of Echocardiography in Patients with COVID-19 - Marc R Dweck, MD, PhD, University of Edinburgh, UK
- A Single-Cell RNA Expression Map of Human Coronavirus Entry Factors - Cédric Feschotte, PhD, Cornell University, USA
- A Consensus Immunological Signature of COVID-19 Includes Overt Dysregulation of Lympho-/Myelo-Homeostasis - Adrian Hayday, PhD, King’s College London, UK
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #25
29 October, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD & Shuibing Chen, PhD
- Sofosbuvir Protects Human Brain Organoids Against SARS-CoV-2 - Alysson Muotri, PhD, UCSD, USA
- Toxicity Assessment of Anti-COVID-19 Drugs - Yasunari Kanda, PhD, NIHS, Japan
- SARS-CoV-2-Specific T Cell Responses - Shiv Pillai, MD, PhD, MIT and Harvard, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #24
22 October, 2020
Chairs: Todd McDevitt, PhD & Hans Snoeck, MD, PhD
- Inborn Errors of Type I IFN Immunity in Patients With Life-Threatening COVID-19 - Qian Zhang, MD, Rockefeller University, USA
- Auto-Antibodies Against Type I IFNs in Patients With Life-Threatening COVID-19 - Paul Bastard, MD, University of Paris, France
- Structural Basis of Antibody Responses to SARS-CoV-2 - Ian A. Wilson, PhD, Scripps Research Institute, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #23
15 October, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD & Shuibing Chen, PhD
- Neuropathology of Patients With COVID-19 in Germany: A Post-Mortem Case Series - Markus Glatzel, MD, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
- SARS-CoV-2 Infection Depends on Cellular Heparan Sulfate and ACE2 - Thomas Mandel-Clausen, PhD, UCSD, USA
- SARS-CoV-2 Disrupts Splicing, Translation, and Protein Trafficking to Suppress Host Defenses - Abhik Banerjee, MS II, California Institute of Technology, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #22
8 October, 2020
Chairs: Todd McDevitt, PhD & Hans Snoeck, MD, PhD
- Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Findings in Competitive Athletes Recovering From COVID-19 Infection - Saurabh Rajpal, MD, The Ohio State University, USA
- A Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Model of SARS-CoV-2 Cardiomyocyte Infection - Charles Murry, MD, PhD, University of Washington, USA
- Direct exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and cigarette smoke increases infection severity and alters the stem cell-derived airway repair response - Brigitte Gomperts, MD, UCLA, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #21
1 October, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD & Shuibing Chen, PhD
- COVID-19 Modeling in 3D Human Brain Organoids - Jay Gopalakrishnan, PhD, University Hospital Dusseldorf, Germany
- Deep Immune Profiling of COVID-19 Patients Reveals Distinct Immunotypes With Therapeutic Implications - John Wherry, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, USA
- COVID-19 Severity Correlates With Airway Epithelium–Immune Cell Interactions Identified by Single-Cell Analysis - Roland Eils, PhD, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Germany
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #20
24 September, 2020
Chairs: Todd McDevitt, PhD & Li Qian, PhD
- Neuroinvasion of SARS-CoV-2 in Human and Mouse Brain - Eric Song, Yale School of Medicine, USA
- The SARS-CoV-2 3A Ion Channel: Structure, Function, and Potential for Drug Targeting - Steve Brohawn, PhD, UC Berkeley, USA
- Discovery of SARS-CoV-2 Antiviral Drugs Through Large-Scale Compound Repurposing - Sumit Chanda, PhD, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #19
17 September, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD & Shuibing Chen, PhD
- SARS-CoV-2 Infection of Human iPSC-Derived Cardiac Cells Predicts Novel Cytopathic Features in Hearts of COVID-19 Patients - Serah Kang, PhD, UCSF & Gladstone Institutes, USA
- Establishing Confidence for Comparing Data - Anne L. Plant, PhD, NIST, USA
- An Introduction to the Allen Cell Collection and Associated Tools For SARS-CoV-2 Research - Ruwanthi Gunawardane, PhD, Allen Institute for Cell Science, USA
- Intestinal Organoid Models to Study SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Intrinsic Innate Immune Response - Steeve Boulant, PhD, Heidelberg University, Germany
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #18
10 September, 2020
Chairs: Todd McDevitt, PhD & Li Qian, PhD
- Robust T Cell Immunity in Convalescent Individuals with Asymptomatic or Mild COVID-19 - Marcus Buggert, PhD, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
- Systems Biological Assessment of Immunity to Mild Versus Severe COVID-19 Infection in Humans - Bali Pulendran, PhD, Stanford University, USA
- A Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Brain Organoid Model of SARS-CoV-2 Infection - Jenny Hsieh, PhD, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #17
3 September, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD & Shuibing Chen, PhD
- Molecular Architecture of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus - Sai Li, PhD, Tsinghua University, China
- Engineering Human ACE2 to Optimize Binding to the Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2 - Erik Procko, PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
- Modeling COVID-19 with the Human Airway Lung-Chip - Amy Ryan (Firth), PhD, University of Southern California, USA
- Drug Repurposing Approaches to Fast Track Development of New Therapies for COVID-19 - Ole Pless, PhD, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Germany
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #16
27 August, 2020
Chairs: Todd McDevitt, PhD & Li Qian, PhD
- Association of Cardiac Infection With SARS-CoV-2 in Confirmed COVID-19 Autopsy Cases - Dirk Westermann, MD, PhD, University Medical Center Hamburg, Germany
- Outcomes of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients Recently Recovered From COVID-19 - Jedrzej Hoffmann, MD, University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany
- Potent Neutralizing Antibodies from COVID-19 Patients Define Multiple Targets of Vulnerability - Marit J. van Gils, PhD, Amsterdam UMC, the Netherlands
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #15
20 August, 2020
Chair: Shuibing Chen, PhD
- Susceptibility of hPSC-Derived Neural Lineages to SARS-CoV-2 - Lorenz Studer, MD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, USA
- Neuroinvasive Potential of SARS-CoV-2 Revealed in a Human Brain Organoid Model - Eric Song, Yale School of Medicine, USA
- COVID-19 is Marked by a Dysregulated Myeloid Cell Compartment - Joachim L. Schultze, MD, University of Bonn, Germany
- Elevated Calprotectin and Abnormal Myeloid Cell Subsets Discriminate Severe from Mild COVID-19 - Eric Solary, MD, INSERM & Université Paris-Saclay, France
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #14
13 August, 2020
Chairs: Todd McDevitt, PhD and Li Qian, PhD
- Genomic Determinants of Pathogenicity in SARS-CoV-2 and Other Human Coronaviruses - Eugene Koonin, PhD, National Institutes of Health, USA
- Molecular Signatures of COVID-19 - Jonathan Schisler, PhD,UNC School of Medicine, USA
- Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Cells and Brain Organoids Reveal SARS-CoV-2 Neurotropism - Guo-li Ming, MD, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #13
6 August, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD and Shuibing Chen, PhD
- A single-cell atlas of the peripheral immune response in patients with severe COVID-19 - Catherine A. Blish, PhD, Stanford University, USA
- Serological Analysis of New York City COVID19 Convalescent Plasma Donors - Larry Luchsinger, PhD, New York Blood Center, USA
- The UCSC SARS-CoV-2 Genome Browser - Maximilian Haeussler, PhD, UC Santa Cruz, USA
- SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication in human fetal and pediatric gastric organoids - Giovanni Giobbe, PhD, University College London, UK
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #12
30 July, 2020
Chairs: Todd McDevitt, PhD and Li Qian, PhD
- Pulmonary Alveolar Regeneration in Adult COVID-19 Patients - Nan Tang, PhD, National Institute of Biological Sciences, China
- Kinase Inhibitor Screen to Protect Stem Cells in the Lungs from SARS-CoV-2 - Justin Ichida, PhD, University of Southern California, USA
- SARS-CoV-2 Infection of Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Human Lung Alveaolar Type 2 Cells Elicits a Rapid Epithelial-Intrinsic Inflammatory Response - Darrell Kotton, MD, Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) of Boston University, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #11
23 July, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD and Shuibing Chen, PhD
- Genomewide Association Study of Severe COVID-19 with Respiratory Failure - Tom H. Karlsen, MD, PhD, University of Oslo, Norway
- Therapies for Vascular Stability: Utilizing Computer Designed Proteins to Stabilize Blood Vessels - Hannele Ruohola-Baker, PhD, University of Washington, USA
- SARS-CoV-2 Infection of Primary Human Lung Epithelium for COVID-19 Modeling and Drug Discovery - Apoorva Mulay, PhD, Cedars-Sinai, USA
- Database and Analytic Strategies to Combat the Cytokine Storm and Develop Treatments for COVID-19 - David C. Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, University of Pennsylvania, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #10
16 July, 2020
Chairs: Pamela Robey, PhD and Li Qian, PhD
- The Emerging Spectrum of COVID-19 Neurology - Hadi Manji, MD, FRCP, University College London, UK
- COVID ‐19: A Global Threat to the Nervous System - Kenneth L. Tyler, MD, University of Colorado School of Medicine, USA
- Infectability of Human Neurons and Neurotropism of SARS-CoV-2 - Thomas Hartung, MD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #9
9 July, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD and Shuibing Chen, PhD
- Therapeutic Muscle Stem Cell Targeting for the Treatment of COVID-19 Associated Diaphragm Atrophy - Helen Blau, PhD, Stanford University, USA
- COVID-19 Pathogenesis and Associated Thrombosis - Barry Rockx, PhD, Erasmus MC, Netherlands
- Modeling SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Human Brain Organoids - Madeline Lancaster, PhD, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, UK
- Genome-Wide CRISPR Screen Reveals Host Genes That Regulate SARS-CoV-2 Infection - Craig Wilen, MD, PhD, Yale University, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #8
2 July, 2020
Chairs: Chuck Murry, MD, PhD and Pamela Robey, PhD
- Antibody Responses From COVID-19 Survivors - David Koelle, MD, University of Washington, USA
- The Cytokine Storm and Multisystem Failure - Mark Wurfel, MD, PhD, UW Medicine, USA
- Paediatric Multi System Inflammatory Syndrome Temporally Associated With SARS-CoV-2 - Elizabeth Whittaker, MD, PhD, Imperial College of London, UK
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #7
18 June, 2020
Chair: Christine Mummery, PhD
- Infection of Bat and Human Intestinal Organoids by SARS-CoV-2 - Jane Zhou, PhD, The University of Hong Kong, China
- Organoids to study SARS-CoV-2 function and treatment - Ryan Conder, PhD, StemCell Technologies, Canada
- A data-driven single-cell analysis of patients with COVID-19 identifies a novel modulator of hyperinflammation - Antonio del Sol, PhD, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
- Androgen Regulates SARS-CoV-2 Receptor Levels and Is Associated with Severe COVID-19 Symptoms in Men - Faranak Fattahi, PhD, UCSF, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #6
11 June, 2020
Chairs: Chuck Murry, MD, PhD and Pamela Robey, PhD
- Overview of MSCs: What They Are and Are Not - Pamela Robey, PhD, NIH, USA
- MSC-based cell therapies for ARDS - Daniel Weiss, MD, PhD, University of Vermont, USA
- Clinical Trials of MSCs for COVID-19 - Silviu Itescu, MBBS, FRACP, Mesoblast, USA & Australia
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #5
4 June, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD and Shuibing Chen, PhD
- Cloning SARS-CoV-2 Genes - Pei-Hui Wang, PhD, Shandong University, China
- Organ-on-a-Chip Model of COVID-19 Thrombosis - Andries van der Meer, PhD, University of Twente, the Netherlands
- Bronchial Organoids for SARS-CoV-2 Research - Kazuo Takayama, PhD, CiRA, Japan
- HSC-Derived Dendritic Cells for SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Development - Gay Crooks, MD, UCLA, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #4
28 May, 2020
Chairs: Chuck Murry, MD, PhD and Pamela Robey, PhD
- SARSV-CoV-2 Virology - Michael Gale, PhD, University of Washington, USA
- Lung Pathology of COVID-19 - Dan Chertow, MD, MPH, NIH, USA
- Modeling COVID-19 with Stem Cell-Derived Lung Organoids - Hans-Willem Snoeck, MD, PhD, Columbia University Medical Center, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #3
21 May, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD and Shuibing Chen, PhD
- SARS-CoV-2 Pseudovirus - Derya Unutmaz, MD, The Jackson Laboratory, USA
- Modeling COVID-19 and the Liver - Robert Schwartz, MD, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College
- Redirecting Research Lines to Address COVID19 - Lygia da Veiga Pereira, PhD, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
- iPSC-CMs and SARS-CoV-2 Infections - Arun Sharma, PhD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #2
14 May, 2020
Chairs: Chuck Murry, MD, PhD and Pamela Robey, PhD
- Humanized Mouse Models for COVID-19 Research - Nadia Rosenthal, PhD, The Jackson Laboratory, USA
- Pathology of COVID-19 - Desiree Marshall, MD, University of Washington
- COVID-19 and the Heart - Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, Cedars-Sinai, USA
ISSCR COVID-19 Networking Meeting #1
8 May, 2020
Chairs: Christine Mummery, PhD and Shuibing Chen, PhD
- Stem cells and COVID-19 - George Daley, MD, PhD, Harvard Medical School, USA
- Stem cell-derived gut organoids and their applications to COVID-19 - Hans Clevers, MD, PhD, Hubrecht Institute, Netherlands
- Virology of SARS-CoV-2 - Benjamin R tenOever, PhD, Mount Sinai, USA
- Stem cell-derived lung cell applications - Shuibing Chen, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College, USA
- Stem cell-derived cardiac microtissue - Todd McDevitt, PhD, Gladstone Institutes, USA
- Vasculature and COVID-19 - Valeria Orlova, PhD, Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands