MxW Symposium
Kyoto 2025

After finishing Ph.D. study on RNA modifications at The University of Tokyo, Prof. Dr. Yoshiho Ikeuchi conducted post-doctoral research in molecular and cellular neuroscience at the Harvard Medical School and Washington University, St. Louis until 2014. After returning to Japan, he has been conducting research on functional interrogation and engineering of neural organoids at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo.

Kenta Shimba is an Associate Professor at the Mathematical Biology and Bioengineering Laboratory, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo under the supervision of Prof. Yasuhiko Jimbo. After working as a postdoctoral researcher at Tokyo Institute of Technology, he joined the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo as an Assistant Professor. He currently holds his position at the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences. His research interests include microdevice fabrication and method development for studying axon physiology and network interactions.

Hideyuki Okano received his M.D. (1983) and Ph.D. of Medical Science (1988) from Keio University. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he became a Professor at Tsukuba University (1994), Osaka University (1997), and returned to Keio University in 2001. He served as Dean of Keio University School of Medicine/Graduate School of Medicine (2007-2021) and was appointed Visiting Professor at MIT in 2022. He is currently the Director and Distinguished Professor of Keio University Regenerative Medicine Research Center. He was awarded numerous honors, including the Medal with Purple Ribbon (2009), the Erwin von Bälz Prize (2014), and the Uehara Prize (2022). In July 2025, he assumed the presidency of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). His current research focuses on stem cell therapies for spinal cord injuries, as well as iPSCs-based modeling and drug development for neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS and Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Kanda currently serves as Division head of Pharmacology at National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) Japan. His research area is regulatory science, which seeks to apply new approach methodologies (NAM) to the review process and bridge the gap between scientific innovation and safety issues. He has coordinated the JiCSA (Japan iPS Cardiac Safety Assessment) consortium, including the development and validation of test methods using iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, and has collaborated with US FDA, Comprehensive In Vitro Proarrhythmia Assay (CiPA), and HESI Cardiac Safety Committee. He has worked with HESI NeuTox Committee in terms of seizure liability and other projects, such as PBPK and DART. In addition, he has contributed to OECD guidances (Good In Vitro Method Practice, Developmental Neurotoxicity, and PBPK) as an expert group. He is a member of the Board of Directors of US Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI), European Society of Toxicology In Vitro (ESTIV) and the Japanese Society for Alternatives to Animal Experiments (JSAAE) to promote NAMs. He serves as the Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports, Cardiovascular Toxicology, Journal of Pharmacological Sciences. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters related to assessing the safety and effectiveness of drugs and chemicals. He received B.S. degree, M.S. degree, and Ph.D. degree from the University of Tokyo. After he worked as a research assistant professor in National Defense Medical College, he has worked on regulatory science research since joining the Division of Pharmacology, NIHS as a section head in 2008 and has been promoted as a Division head in 2017. 東京大学薬学部を卒業後、防衛医科大学校を経て、2008年より国立医薬品食品衛生研究所で勤務し、2017年に部長に昇進しました。研究分野はレギュラトリーサイエンスで、審査プロセスに新しい科学技術を適用することにより医薬品開発の向上や患者の安全性確保に取組んでいます。特に、FDAなどと連携してヒトiPSC由来心筋細胞を用いた試験法の開発や検証に従事しており、そのほかには神経毒性やPBPKなどのOECDにも専門家委員として協力しています。また、国際安全性薬理学会、日本薬理学会の理事に加えて、欧州インビトロ毒性学会、日本動物実験代替法学会の理事を務めることにより3Rsにも貢献しています。

Nobuyoshi Matsumoto is an assistant professor of Chemical Pharmacology at the University of Tokyo. His work focuses specifically on cognitive, spatial, social, and sexual behaviors and underlying neural mechanisms in terms of pharmacology, physiology, psychology, and physics.

Sakaguchi graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Kumamoto University in 2008. After gaining four years of experience as a clinical doctor, basic research was initiated at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (Sasai Lab), followed by completion of doctoral studies at the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University in 2016 (Doctor of Medicine). Subsequent research positions included work at the Kyoto University Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (Takahashi Jun Lab) and the Salk Institute (Gage Lab) before assuming the current role. Research achievements include the world’s first generation of hippocampal, choroid plexus, and spinal cord organoids. Current efforts focus on advancing a broad spectrum of basic and applied research on neural organoids.

Jan Lichtenberg, Ph.D., is the Co-Founder and CEO of InSphero Inc., a leading biotech company specializing in 3D cell-culture technologies for drug discovery and safety. InSphero’s patented 3D microtissues replicate organ tissues and disease states, providing more reliable and cost-efficient compound profiling. Since its founding in 2009, InSphero has grown to 75 employees in Switzerland and the US, working with all top 15 global pharmaceutical companies. Jan previously held VP positions at Hocoma AG and Uwatec and led a research group at ETH Zurich. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Neuchâtel. Jan served on the Board of the Society of Laboratory Science and Screening (SLAS) from 2021-2022, becoming President in 2023, and is a Board Member for Tessara Therapeutics, Scailyte Bioscience, and Venturekick.

Prof. Ikeya received his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University in 2001. He worked as a Researcher at RIKEN CDB from 2001 to 2009, then served as Associate Professor at IMEG, Kumamoto University from 2009 to 2010. From 2010 to 2011, he was a Researcher at IFMS, Kyoto University. Since 2011, he has been Associate Professor at CiRA, Kyoto University, and since 2016, he has also served as Principal Investigator at T-CiRA (Takeda-CiRA Joint Program for iPS Cell Applications). In 2018, he received the Murao Scholarship Association Academic Encouragement Prize, the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine Award, and the German Innovation Award Gottfried Wagener Prize. In 2019, he was honored with the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).