From Montreal to Los Angeles: Two Memorable Scientific Meetings

In July 2026, I had the opportunity to visit Montreal and Los Angeles and give oral presentations at two international scientific meetings.

My first destination was Montreal, where I attended the ISSCR 2026 Annual Meeting. I presented our recent work on an organoid-derived kidney-on-chip model for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. It was an exciting experience to share our research with an international audience and receive questions and feedback from researchers working in different fields.

I was also very honored to receive both an ISSCR Travel Award and a Merit Award. These awards made the meeting particularly memorable and encouraged me to continue developing new approaches for studying human kidney diseases.

After the ISSCR meeting, I traveled to Los Angeles to attend the USC Kidney Consortium–International Leading Research “Creating a Kidney” meeting at the USC Health Sciences Campus. Professor Ryuji Yokokawa and I gave an oral presentation entitled “Vascular Microphysiological Systems and Its Application to ADPKD Model.”

The program included researchers from Japan and the United States working on kidney development, organoids, regeneration, disease modeling, and bioengineering. The relatively focused format of the meeting made it possible to have direct and lively discussions with other participants. I particularly enjoyed learning how researchers with different backgrounds are approaching the common goal of understanding kidney development and creating functional kidney tissues.

The meetings in Montreal and Los Angeles were both valuable opportunities to present our work, learn about recent research, and meet researchers from around the world. They also gave me new ideas for the future development of our kidney microphysiological systems.

I sincerely thank Professor Ryuichi Nishinakamura, Professor Ryuji Yokokawa, the meeting organizers, and all members of the International Leading Research project “Creating a Kidney” for this wonderful opportunity.

Cheng MA

Program-Specific Assistant Professor

Department of Micro Engineering

Kyoto University