Stem Cell Models in Embryology (B2)
February 17-20, 2026  | Asilomar Hotel and Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, CA, United States
Jun Wu, Jianping Fu and Miki Ebisuya
Scholarship Deadline: Nov. 19, 2025 | Abstract Deadline: Jan. 28, 2026 | Early Registration Deadline: Dec. 19, 2025
* Session Chair † Invited but not yet accepted | Program current as of December 16, 2025 2 AM | For the most up-to-date details, visit https://www.keystonesymposia.org
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
4:00–6:00 PM Registration and Welcome Mixer Fred Farr Forum
6:00–7:00 PM Dinner Crocker Dining Room
7:00–9:00 PM Human and Non-Human Primate Development using Embryos Fred Farr Forum
  Sophie Petropoulos, Karolinska Institutet
Understanding Human Preimplantation Development		  
  Margherita Y Turco, Friedrich Miescher Institute
Spatial Multiomics Map of Trophoblast Development in Early Pregnancy		  
  Hongmei Wang, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Advancing Trophoblast Organoid Models through a Comprehensive Investigation of Placental Development across Pregnancy		  
  Mijo Simunovic, Columbia University
Short Talk: Exploring the Evolutionary Divergence of Placenta Induction Across Mammals with Stem Cell Models		  
  Ikbal Choudhury, California Institute of Technology
Short Talk: Ex-Utero Human Embryo Implantation in a Functional Vascular Niche		  
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
7:30–8:30 AM Breakfast Crocker Dining Room
8:30–11:30 AM Advancing Embryo Modeling Fred Farr Forum
  Jacob H Hanna, Weizmann Institute of Science
Ex Utero Embryogenesis: from Naive Pluripotent Cells to Bona Fide Synthetic Embryo Models		  
  Berna Sozen, Yale University
Self-Patterning of Human Stem Cells into Post-Implantation Lineages		  
  José Silva, Guangzhou National Laboratory
Creating High-Fidelity Mouse and Human Embryo Models with Reprogrammed ESCs		  
  Jun Wu, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Developing Increasingly Complex Human Embryo-Like Structures using Stem Cells		  
  Hao Wu, UT Southwestern Medical Center
Short Talk: Transient YAP Hyperactivation Enables The Generation of Assembled Human and Chimeric Blastoids		  
  Matteo A. Molè, Stanford University
Short Talk: Comparing Post-Implantation Development of Human Embryos and Stem-Cell Blastoids in a 3D Endometrial Scaffold Model		  
10:00–10:20 AM Coffee Break Fred Farr Forum
10:20–10:25 AM Award Recipient Acknowledgement Fred Farr Forum
11:30–1:00 PM Poster Setup Kiln
12:00–1:00 PM Lunch Crocker Dining Room
1:00–9:00 PM Poster Viewing Kiln
1:30–3:30 PM Symposia Spotlight Fred Farr Forum
  Laura Amaya, Caltech
Embryonic Quality Control After Implantation with Lineage-Specific Elimination of Aneuploid Cells		  
  Amanda J Collier, University of California, Los Angeles
Pluripotent State-Specific Mechanisms Orchestrate Human Blastoid Development		  
  Vinay Ayyappan, University of Pennsylvania
Clonal Division of Labor in Gastruloid Self-Organization		  
  Emily Megill, Temple University
Investigating YAP1-Dependent Vitamin A Metabolic Dysregulation During Early Cardiac Development Using Self-Organizing Human Cardiac Organoids		  
  Rowan M Karvas, University of Colorado Anschutz
Invasive Cytotrophoblast Development as Represented by a Human Integrated Stem-Cell-Based Embryo Model		  
  Siddharth S. Dey, University of California, Santa Barbara
Long-term Germline Culture Identifies Factors Responsible for the Genome-wide Erasure of DNA Methylation in Human Primordial Germ Cells		  
3:30–4:00 PM Coffee Available Fred Farr Forum
4:00–6:00 PM Bioengineering Embryo Modeling Fred Farr Forum
  Jianping Fu, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Bioengineering Human Embryo and Organ Models		  
  Samira Musah, Duke University
Uncovering Patient-Specific Disease Mysteries with Stem Cells and Organ Chips		  
  Sharad Ramanathan, Harvard
Building Robust in vitro Systems to Study Early Human Development		  
  Idse Heemskerk, University of Michigan
Short Talk: Decoding Combinatorial Cell Signaling in a Stem Cell Model for Human Gastrulation		  
  Nicole Horsley, Stanford University
Short Talk: Combining Live Imaging, Stem Cell Models, and Clinical Metadata to Predict Implantation Success		  
6:00–7:00 PM Dinner Crocker Dining Room
7:00–9:00 PM Poster Session 1 Kiln
Thursday, February 19, 2026
7:30–8:30 AM Breakfast Crocker Dining Room
8:30–11:30 AM Studying Developmental Mechanisms using Embryo Models Fred Farr Forum
  Magdalena D. Zernicka-Goetz, University of Cambridge
Deciphering Early Mammalian Development Using Stem Cell-Based Models		  
  Yasuhiro Takashima, Kyoto University CiRA
Naive Human PSCs Model Pre- to Post-Implantation Development		  
  Aydan Bulut-Karslioglu, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics
Adjusting the Timing of Mammalian Development		  
  Olivier Pourquie, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Life Without HOX		  
  Liangwen Zhong, Yale School of Medicine
Short Talk: Mammalian Specific Histone Variant H2A.J Regulates Trophoblast Ribosome Biogenesis in Early Human Development		  
  Shreyasi Mukherjee, Massachusetts General Hospital
Chromatin Remodeling By Polycomb Repressive Complexes Regulates The Spatiotemporal Emergence Of Mammalian Body Plan In Mouse Gastruloids		  
9:30–9:50 AM Coffee Break Fred Farr Forum
11:30–1:00 PM Poster Setup Kiln
12:00–1:00 PM Lunch Crocker Dining Room
1:00–9:00 PM Poster Viewing Kiln
2:00–3:30 PM Panel Discussions (Ethics) Fred Farr Forum
3:30–4:00 PM Coffee Available Fred Farr Forum
4:00–6:00 PM Synthetic Biology for Embryo Modeling Fred Farr Forum
  Miki Ebisuya, TU Dresden
Optogenetic Manipulation and Cross-Species Comparison of Stem Cell Models		  
  Mustafa Hani Khammash, ETH Zürich
Control Theory and Optogenetic Manipulation of in vitro Models		  
  Jared Toettcher, Princeton University
Optogenetic Manipulation and Systems Biology		  
  Ali Shariati, University of California, Santa Cruz
Short Talk: CRISPR-Programming Human Embryogenesis		  
  Michelle Chan, Princeton University
Short Talk: Molecular Recording To Characterize Progenitor Cell Behaviors In Gastruloids		  
6:00–7:00 PM Dinner Crocker Dining Room
7:00–9:00 PM Poster Session 2 Kiln
Friday, February 20, 2026
7:30–8:30 AM Breakfast Crocker Dining Room
8:30–11:30 AM Progressive Embryo Modeling towards Organogenesis and Translation Fred Farr Forum
  James Briscoe, The Francis Crick Institute
Building a Spinal Cord: The Embryonic Development of the Vertebrate Neural Tube		  
  Nobuhiko Hamazaki, University of Washington - Hamazaki Lab
Modeling and Uncovering the Human Post-Implantation Embryonic Development		  
  Mingxia Gu, UCLA
Engineering Vascularized Organoids to Decode Human Organogenesis		  
  Joshua M. Brickman, University of Copenhagen
The Primitive Endoderm Supports Lineage Plasticity to Enable Regulative Development		  
  Rio Sugimura, HKU
Short Talk: Blood Originates In Hypoblasts During Embryonic Development		  
  Conchi Estaras, Temple University
Short Talk: YAP Regulates Body Axis Formation In A Human Model Of Gastrulation		  
9:30–9:50 AM Coffee Break Fred Farr Forum
11:30–11:45 AM Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions (Organizers) Fred Farr Forum
12:00–1:00 PM Lunch Crocker Dining Room
1:00–11:59 PM Departure