Best Practices for the Development
of Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cellular Therapies

A comprehensive, interactive, international document.

  • Designed for academic and industry scientists and regulators.

  • Addresses critical areas of the translational pipeline.

  • Highlights key decision points essential for successful translation to a licensed therapy.

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Steering Committee and Working Groups

  • Jacqueline Barry (co-chair), Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, UK

    Kapil Bharti (co-chair), National Institutes of Health, US

    Ricardo Baptista, SmartCella, Sweden

    Melissa Carpenter, Carpenter Consulting, US

    Derek Hei, Kenai Therapeutics, US

    Ana Hidalgo-Simon, Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands

    Deborah Hursh, Hursh Cell Therapy Consulting, LLC, US

    Jung-Hyun Kim, Ajou University, Korea

    Tenneille Ludwig, WiCell Research Institute, US

    Hideyuki Okano, Keio University School of Medicine, Japan

    John Rasko, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Australia

    Yoji Sato, National Institute of Health Sciences, Japan

    Glyn Stacey, International Stem Cell Banking Initiative, UK

    Clive Svendsen, Cedars Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute, US

  • Kapil Bharti, NIH, US (co-chair)

    Tenneille Ludwig, WiCell, US (co-chair)

    Jacqueline Barry, CGT CATAPULT, UK

    Catharina Brandsten, Takara Bio Europe, Sweden

    Elizabeth Csaszar, Notch Therapeutics, Canada

    Indumathi Mariappan, LV Prasad Eye Institute, India

    Mark Tomishima, Blue Rock Therapeutics, US

    Alex Zhang, Zephyrm, China

  • Derek Hei (co-chair), Kenai Therapeutics, US

    Jennifer Hollands (co-chair), Cell Therapies Pty Ltd, Australia

    Ricardo Baptista, SmartCella, Sweden

    Melissa Carpenter, Carpenter Consulting, US

    Jennifer Dashnau, Century Therapeutics, US

    Kate Fynes, eXmoor pharma, UK

    Mashiro Kino-oka, University of Osaka, Japan

    Dhruv Sareen, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, US

  • Jung-Hyun Kim (co-chair), Ajou University, Korea

    Glyn Stacey (co-chair), ISCBI, UK

    Elsa Abranches, ViSync Technologies, Portugal

    Ricardo Baptista, SmartCella, Sweden

    Jie Hao, National Stem Cell Resource Center, China

    Hyunyoung Kim, KNIH, Korea

    Tenneille Ludwig. WiCell, US

    Joanne Mountford, SNBTS, UK

  • Jeanne Loring (co-chair), Aspen Neuroscience and Scripps Research,

    US

    Yoji Sato (co-chair), National Institute of Health Sciences, Japan

    Joy Cavagnaro, Access Bio, US

    Lila Collins, CIRM, US

    Shawna Jackman, Charles River, US

    Cristelle Monville, I-Stem, France

    Andras Nagy, LTRI, Sinai Health, Canada

    Clive Svendsen, Cedars Sinai, US

    Consultant: Michaela Sharpe, Moare Solutions, UK

  • Ricardo Baptista (co-chair), SmartCella, Sweden

    Uma Lakshmipathy (co-chair), Thermo Fisher, US

    Elsa Abranches, ViSync Technologies, Portugal

    Kevin Bruce, Roslin, UK

    Tamar Harel-Adar, MatriCelf, Israel

    Annelie Persson, AstraZeneca, Sweden

    Anat Shnaiderman, MatriCelf, Israel

    Shuyan Wang, Zephrym, China

    Claudia Zylberberg, Akron Bio, US

  • Claire Henchcliffe (co-chair), University of California, Irvine, US

    John Rasko (co-chair), Cynata Therapeutics Limited, Australia

    Stanley Lazic, Prioris.ai Inc

    Hideyuki Okano, Keio University, Japan

    Graziella Pellegrini, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia Modena, Italy

    Alan Trounson, Catherics and Monash University, Australia

    Sowmya Viswanathan, UHN, Canada

    Kirsty Wydenbach, Weatherden, UK

    Consultant: Roger Barker, University of Cambridge, UK

We would like to thank the many people who took the time to review the document. We would especially like to thank the regulators from across the globe for their critical review and feedback.

  • Jacqueline Barry (co-chair), CGT Catapult, UK

    Deborah Hursh (co-chair), Hursh Consulting, US

    Michela Gabaldo, Evotec, Italy

    Ana Hidalgo-Simon, LUMC, Netherlands

    Kilian Kelly, Cynata, Australia

    John Rasko, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Australia

    Yoji Sato, National Institute of Health Sciences, Japan

    Sowmya Viswanathan, University Health Network, Canada

The ISSCR Standards Initiative is made possible through contributions by:

The ISSCR's Standards for Human Stem Cell Use in Research are strictly copyrighted by the society. No part of this document may be produced in any form without written permission of The International Society for Stem Cell Research. Contact isscr@isscr.org for more information.

©2025 by The International Society for Stem Cell Research. All rights reserved.