Members of 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. Our laboratory also played a central role in organizing the meeting, with our PI, Prof. Kiyoshi Ohnuma, serving as President of the Meeting.

The theme of this year’s meeting was “Tissue Culture 5.0: Beyond Mechanization and AI,” focusing on the future of cell and tissue culture beyond the current advances in laboratory automation and artificial intelligence. The meeting brought together researchers from diverse fields to discuss how researchers, automated systems, and AI can complement one another and contribute to the future development of cell culture technologies and biomedical research.

Students from our laboratory 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.

For our students, participation in the meeting provided 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 and tissue culture. At the same time, organizing the meeting offered our laboratory a unique opportunity to contribute to scientific exchange and communication within the tissue culture research community.

We would like to congratulate the award recipient and sincerely thank all participants, speakers, organizers, sponsors, and others who contributed to the success of the meeting.

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.