Sergiu P. Paşca Receives the 2024 ISSCR Momentum Award for his Pioneering Work in Neurodevelopment and Disease
Evanston, IL— The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) will present this year’s ISSCR Momentum Award to Sergiu P. Paşca, M.D., Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. Professor and the Uytengsu Director of Stanford Brain Organogenesis, Stanford University, U.S.A. The award recognizes the exceptional achievements of a mid-career investigator whose innovative research has established a major area of stem cell-related research with a strong trajectory for future success.
Dr. Paşca will present his research during Plenary VII on 13 July 2024 during the ISSCR 2024 Annual Meeting in Hamburg, Germany. ISSCR 2024 is the world’s leading gathering of the brightest minds in stem cell research and regenerative medicine.
“Dr. Pașca’s visionary work has given the scientific community unprecedented insights into neurodevelopment and disease,” ISSCR President Amander Clark, Ph.D., said. “His groundbreaking contributions have transformed the way stem cells are used to tackle questions in neuroscience and reveal the power of molecular psychiatry. Congratulations Sergiu on earning this well-deserved recognition.”
“Receiving the ISSCR Momentum Award is a tremendous honor and one that would not have been possible without the dedication of both current and past members of the lab,” Dr. Pașca said. “This recognition of our work in developing assembloids and organoids for neuroscience is a testament to a collaborative spirit and a strong desire to decipher how the human nervous system assembles itself. We are living in an exciting time for human neuroscience, and my team and I at Stanford remain more committed than ever to applying the tools we have developed to develop therapeutics for devastating neuropsychiatric disorders.”
Sergiu P. Paşca seeks to understand the rules governing human brain assembly and the mechanisms of disease. His laboratory pioneered assembloids, introduced the use of instructive signals to create regionalized neural organoids, and developed integrated human circuits following transplantation. These models have been adopted by hundreds of laboratories worldwide, and Dr. Paşca systematically applied them to gain insights into physiology and disease and to develop therapeutic approaches.
He was named a New York Times’ Visionary in Medicine and Science. He is a Knight of the Order of Merit, holds a Doctor Honoris Causa, and was a TED-2022 speaker. His work was recognized with the Vilcek Prize, the American Philosophical Society's Judson Daland Prize, the Daniel E. Efron Award, the Altman Award for Developmental Neuroscience, the Gunther Blobel Award for Cell Biology, the AE Bennett Award in Biological Psychiatry, and the IBRO-Kemali Neuroscience Award.
ISSCR 2024, co-sponsored by the City of Hamburg, Life Science Nord, Bayer, and BlueRock Therapeutics, will take place 10-13 July 2024 in Hamburg, Germany.
About the International Society for Stem Cell Research (www.isscr.org)
With nearly 5,000 members from 80 countries, the International Society for Stem Cell Research is the preeminent global, cross-disciplinary, science-based organization dedicated to stem cell research and its translation to the clinic. The ISSCR mission is to promote excellence in stem cell science and applications to human health. Additional information about stem cell science is available at AboutStemCells.org, an initiative of the Society to inform the public about stem cell research and its potential to improve human health.
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