The CiRA Foundation (CiRA_F) celebrated its first anniversary this past April. We would like to thank all our donors and others who have given us their strong support.

On Friday, April 23, we held an online session to recognize this anniversary. Many of you attended via Zoom and YouTube.

A video of the day's session is available on the CiRA_F YouTube channel.

【YouTube Cannel】
・Click here to see the video. (The session was hosted in Japanese.)

【Lecture content】
1) The significance of the CiRA Foundation and Future of iPS cells
Speaker：Shinya YAMANAKA, Representative Director

2) Why we need your support
Speaker：Fumitaka WATANABE, Philanthropy Office Leader


【About the day's session】
On the day, we also welcomed questions and comments from participants on Zoom. Thank you very much for your participation.
Some examples of the questions and comments were as follows.
"How soon will we be able to use iPS cells for treatment?"
"Can iPS cells be used between people of different races?"
"Is the CiRA Foundation eligible for funding for new projects from the Japanese government?"
"What is the likelihood of immune-matching the whole population?"
"Do you accept donations through wills?"
"Please tell us more about the activities at the Foundation."
"In the future, do you think immortality will be possible?"


Other questions asked on the post-event questionnaire included, "Is there any chance that the treatment will be covered by insurance?" and "How far have clinical trials using iPS cells progressed?"

Additionally, a number of people asked whether iPS cells could be used to treat specific diseases and how long it would take to commercialise these treatments.

CiRA_F manufactures and stores iPS cells as raw materials for research and clinical trials. It also manufactures and stores cells differentiated from iPS cells for the same purpose.
The research and clinical trials are carried out by outside institutions to which CiRA_F provides the cells. For specific information on a particular disease, please contact the medical institution or other organization that is conducting the trial directly.

CiRA_F is committed to delivering stable quality iPS cells to research institutes and companies as quickly as possible at reasonable prices so that research and development using iPS cells can progress both in Japan and abroad and benefit patients as quickly as possible.

Thank you very much for taking part in the session celebrating CiRA_F's first anniversary.