Neuronal Models Symposium (NeuMoS) 2026

Hideyuki Okano received his M.D. in 1983 and Ph.D. in Medical Science in 1988, both from Keio University. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he became a Professor at the Tsukuba University (1994) and the Osaka University (1997). He returned to Keio University in 2001. He served as a Dean of the Keio University School of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine from 2007 to 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 has received numerous honors, including the Medal with Purple Ribbon (2009), the Erwin von Bälz Prize (2014), and the Uehara Prize (2022). In July 2025, he became the president 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.

Human iPSC-Based Neuronal Models for ALS Disease Modeling, Drug Discovery, and Reverse Translation

Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology offers a transformative approach to neurological disease modeling and drug discovery by shifting the starting point of therapeutic development from animal models to human patient-derived cells. This is particularly important for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorder in which many compounds effective in rodent models have failed in clinical trials. Patient-derived iPSCs preserve individual genetic backgrounds and disease risk architectures, enabling “disease in a dish” and, more broadly, “humanity in a dish” as a platform for precision medicine.

In this lecture, I will present our iPSC-based strategy for ALS disease modeling and drug discovery. We established robust protocols to generate spinal motor neurons from ALS patient-derived iPSCs and used these cells to recapitulate disease-relevant phenotypes, including neurite degeneration, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and neuronal hyperexcitability. Screening 1,232 compounds using ALS iPSC-derived motor neurons led to the identification of ropinirole hydrochloride, an approved dopamine D2 receptor agonist for Parkinson’s disease, as a candidate anti-ALS drug. Mechanistic studies showed that ropinirole acts through both D2 receptor-dependent and -independent pathways, including suppression of oxidative stress and modulation of mitochondrial function.

Beyond these mechanisms, our reverse translational studies have revealed a disease pathway linking cholesterol biosynthesis, RNA editing, and motor neuron excitability. Transcriptomic analyses of ropinirole-treated ALS motor neurons indicated suppression of SREBF2-dependent cholesterol biosynthesis. In sporadic ALS iPSC-derived lower motor neurons, cholesterol synthesis-related enzymes were elevated, particularly in ropinirole-responsive lines, suggesting that dysregulated lipid metabolism may define a therapeutically relevant ALS endotype. Ongoing studies further suggest that increased cholesterol biosynthesis can reduce ADAR2 expression and impair A-to-I RNA editing of GRIA2/GluA2, a critical mechanism controlling AMPA receptor calcium permeability. Reduced editing may therefore increase calcium influx, promote motor neuron hyperexcitability, and contribute to degeneration. High-density microelectrode array recordings support this model by demonstrating abnormal firing activity in ALS neurons and its modulation by ropinirole.

Finally, I will discuss how iPSCs derived from participants in the ROPALS phase 1/2a clinical trial enabled reverse translational research linking in vitro drug responsiveness with clinical progression. I will also introduce cortical–spinal assembloids and organoid-based neural circuit assays as next-generation models for integrating dying-forward and dying-back mechanisms in ALS.

Janos Vörös is a Professor in the Institute for Biomedical Engineering of the University and ETH Zurich (Department for Information Technology and Electrical Engineering) heading the Laboratory for Biosensors and Bioelectronics since 2006. János Vörös has studied Physics at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. After receiving a diploma in Physics in 1995, he was a doctoral student at the Department of Biological Physics of the Eötvös University (in collaboration with Microvacuum Ltd.) where he received his PhD in Biophysics in 2000. Since 1998 he was a member of the BioInterface group in the Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology at the Department of Materials of ETH Zurich as visiting scientist, postdoc, and from 2004 as group leader of the Dynamic BioInterfaces group until 2006. Prof. Vörös is interested in research and teaching in the areas of bioelectronics, biosensors, and neuroscience. His group focuses on the development of novel biosensor techniques for diagnostics and single molecule sequencing; on bottom-up neuroscience; as well as on stretchable biohybrid electronic devices.

Interacting with Neuron Microcircuits 24/7

Dr. Ranmal Samarasinghe is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, with clinical interests in epilepsy, autism, and neurophysiologic intraoperative monitoring. He received his medical degree and doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh and completed residency training in adult neurology, postdoctoral research, and a clinical fellowship in neurophysiology, all at UCLA.

His laboratory develops and applies human iPSC-derived brain assembloid models to study neural circuit formation and its disruption in neurological disease. Using a combination of two-photon calcium imaging, local field potential recording, and high-density microelectrode arrays, his group interrogates network dynamics across a spectrum from neurodevelopmental disorders — including Rett syndrome and SCN8A channelopathy — to neurodegeneration. Recent work has extended these approaches to model anesthetic mechanisms and tau pathology in assembloid systems, with findings that recapitulate in vivo electrophysiological signatures of disease. A unifying theme across this research is the use of circuit-level activity as a readout for understanding how molecular and cellular pathology translates into network dysfunction, with direct implications for therapeutic discovery.

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Contextualizing molecular pathology through network dynamics in human brain assembloids

A central challenge in translational neuroscience is bridging the gap between molecular pathology and clinically meaningful dysfunction. I will present a network-centric framework for this problem, using electrophysiological and optical recordings from human iPSC-derived brain assembloids across a progression from neurodevelopmental disease to neurodegeneration. Beginning with cortical-subcortical assembloids in Rett syndrome — where two-photon imaging and local field potential recordings first revealed epileptiform network dynamics in MeCP2-deficient circuits — I will trace how this approach has evolved in scope and resolution. Work in hippocampal assembloids extended LFP-based analysis to region-specific circuit identity and its disruption in channelopathy. More recently, high-density MEA recordings have enabled single-unit resolution in assembloid systems, illuminating network-level mechanisms of anesthetic action and, most strikingly, revealing how tau pathology dismantles ensemble coordination in ways that recapitulate in vivo signatures of neurodegeneration. Across these models, a consistent picture emerges: circuit dynamics integrate and amplify molecular and cellular changes, making them a privileged and translationally grounded readout for both disease modeling and therapeutic discovery.

Dr. Keri Martinowich is Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Investigator at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development, where she oversees scientific strategy and research integration for the Institute, and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received a B.A. in International Relations from George Washington University and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles, followed by postdoctoral training in translational neuropsychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Martinowich leads a research program focused on defining the molecular and circuit-level architecture of the human brain and its disruption in neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disease. Her laboratory integrates spatial transcriptomics, single-cell genomics, computational biology, and experimental model systems to investigate how gene expression programs are organized across cell types, microenvironments, and interconnected brain circuits. Her work emphasizes the use of postmortem human brain tissue to identify molecular and genetic signatures associated with disease vulnerability, with complementary translation into human iPSC-based models and rodent systems. Through these efforts, her research aims to bridge molecular, cellular, and systems-level mechanisms to advance understanding of complex brain disorders and enable development of biologically informed therapeutic strategies.

Human Spatial Genomics to Stem Cell Models: Circuit Vulnerability in Alzheimer’s Disease

Selective vulnerability of interconnected neural circuits is a defining feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), yet the molecular programs linking genetic risk to early circuit dysfunction remain poorly understood. The locus coeruleus (LC) and entorhinal cortex (ERC) are among the earliest brain regions affected in AD, exhibiting early accumulation of phosphorylated tau pathology prior to widespread neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. However, how molecular vulnerability emerges across connected brain regions, and how these processes can be modeled experimentally, remains unclear. To address this, we generated paired spatial transcriptomic and single-cell datasets across the LC–ERC circuit using postmortem human brain tissue from middle-aged donors stratified by APOE genotype, ancestry, and sex. In the LC, we identified APOE- and ancestry-associated alterations in astrocytic and neuromelanin-associated transcriptional programs linked to aging, lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and neuronal vulnerability. In the ERC, AD risk-associated transcriptional changes localized predominantly to oligodendrocyte populations and white matter-associated spatial domains, suggesting disrupted myelination and glial support programs prior to overt disease onset. Because these datasets were generated from the same donors, ongoing work integrates molecular profiles across regions to define circuit-level programs associated with AD risk and early vulnerability. To translate these findings into experimentally tractable systems, we are generating donor-derived induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models from matched postmortem donors used in the human brain studies. These include LC-like noradrenergic neurons, astrocytes, and emerging multicellular systems designed to model region-specific cellular interactions relevant to AD vulnerability. Using these platforms, we are investigating how APOE-associated molecular programs influence neuromelanin accumulation, cellular activity, and glial interactions. Together, these studies establish a framework integrating human spatial genomics with stem cell-based neural models to investigate mechanisms underlying selective circuit vulnerability in Alzheimer’s disease.

Michael F. Wells, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the UCLA Department of Human Genetics. He earned a PhD in Neurobiology from Duke University in 2015 and completed his postdoctoral training at the Broad Institute in Kevin Eggan’s lab in 2021. During this time, Dr. Wells co-developed the cell village platform that enables high throughput investigations of human genetic, molecular, and cellular phenotypic variation in shared in vitro environments. His research program at UCLA leverages this technology to understand the mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders of genetic and environmental origin, and is funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health, the Simons Foundation, and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Population-scale Gene x Environment Screens Using Cell Villages

Tal Sharf is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomolecular Engineering at UC Santa Cruz. Tal received his BS in Physics at UC Santa Barbara where he studied turbulence in thermally driven convection in the lab of Guenter Ahlers. Tal then pursued doctoral work in the nanoelectronics lab of Ethan Minot at Oregon State University where he developed biosensors based on carbon nanotube and graphene transistors. Inspired by the BRAIN initiative, Tal pursued postdoctoral training under neurobiologist Kenneth Kosik at UC Santa Barbara’s Neuroscience Research Institute where he received the Arnold O. Beckman postdoctoral fellowship award. While at UCSB, Tal generated the first high-resolution map of functional connectivity between neurons in human-iPSC derived brain organoids. In July of 2022 Tal started his lab at UC Santa Cruz where he works at the intersection of physics, biology and computation to understand the assembly and wiring of human brain circuitry.

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Hideaki Yamamoto is a Professor at the Research Institute of Electrical Communication (RIEC), Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. He obtained a Ph.D. degree in engineering from Waseda University, Japan, in 2009. He was a JSPS Research Fellow at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and an Assistant Professor at Waseda University, before joining Tohoku University in 2014. In 2020, he was appointed Associate Professor at the RIEC and was promoted to Professor in 2026. His research interests include the use of engineered neuronal cultures as a model system for understanding brain computation, as well as their applications to brain-inspired computing and biomedicine.

Neurotechnologies for Physical Reservoir Computing based on Engineered Neuronal Networks

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Sheila Chari, Ph.D, is Editor-in-Chief at Cell Stem Cell and Executive Editor at Cell Press. Her primary responsibilities are knowing and publishing the top stem cell discoveries, driving journal publishing strategy, and managing a global editorial staff. She travels to international scientific conferences and research institutions to be on top of the latest developments and meet with authors, reviewers, and readers. She is a proud member of the stem cell community and an ardent supporter of stem cell research. Sheila holds a doctorate from Northwestern University, where she studied transcriptional control of normal and malignant hematopoiesis. She conducted post-doctoral research on epigenetic regulation of cell fate reprogramming at the University of Chicago. Sheila is based in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Publishing with Cell Press: Inside the Editorial Process

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