Kojima, Takusari, Shibuya, and Watanabe from our laboratory participated in the 98th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Tissue Culture Association (JTCA), held on August 27–28, 2026, at Hotel New Otani Nagaoka in Niigata, Japan.

The theme of this year’s meeting was “Tissue Culture 5.0: Beyond Mechanization and AI,” highlighting the future of cell and tissue culture in an era of rapidly advancing laboratory automation and artificial intelligence. The meeting featured discussions on how researchers, automated systems, and AI can work together to improve cell culture technologies and advance biomedical research.

They presented their research and actively exchanged ideas with researchers from a wide range of fields. We are also pleased to announce that Kojima received an Excellence Award for his presentation.

Participation in the meeting provided them with a valuable opportunity not only to present their research but also to learn about emerging technologies and perspectives, particularly the growing roles of AI and automation in cell culture.

We would like to congratulate the award recipient and thank everyone who contributed to the productive discussions at the meeting.