Key Programs

Key Translational Programs

ISCT offers a number of key programs that support the scientific, regulatory, and commercialization pillars of the Society as well as training the next generation of cell and gene therapy leaders. 

Global Regulatory Perspectives

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The ISCT Global Regulatory Perspectives (GRP) represents the diverse activities and partnerships between international regulatory bodies, industry, clinicians and academia. The ISCT GRP steering group is comprised of representatives the Society's Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committees from Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South and Central America. The key output from this joint working group is the GRP Workshop.

The flagship GRP Workshop is an annual one-day workshop that is run in tandem with the Society's Annual Meeting. Unique to this program is that it brings together regulators from North America, Europe, Asia, South and Central America, and Australia/New Zealand. The workshop is aimed to provide participants with viewpoints and perspectives from international regulators of cell therapy products. It is also a highly interactive program as speakers and participants are encouraged to participate in various hypothetical case studies throughout the program.

Topics of discussion in past workshops have included:

  • Regulatory Considerations for Gene Therapies incorporating Human Genome Editing
  • Manufacturing Challenges during Accelerated Development of CGT Products
  • Product approvals and market authorization
  • Materials standardization and qualification
  • Characterization and comparability
  • Regulatory updates from emerging markets

Investigators to Investors Program

Spearheaded by the ISCT Business Models & Investment Subcommittee, the ISCT Investigators to Investors (I to I) program was created in 2018 with a goal to bridge the knowledge gap between investigators and investors within the cell and gene therapy (CGT) sector. The program strives to educate investigators on how to successfully attract investor attention and capital, as well as support investors in conducting diligence and understanding opportunities within the CGT industry. Ultimately, the ISCT I to I program engages these two stakeholder groups in critical conversations that advance the development and delivery of cell and gene therapies. 

ISCT Investigator to Investor Initiatives:

October 6, 2020

The webinar will explore lessons learned by academic founders of successfully funded academic spin-outs and provide a blueprint for others who are pursuing the creation of a company around their novel science. 

View Webinar Recording

April 2019

In April 2019, the ISCT Business Models and Investment Commercialization Subcommittee championed a webinar which discussed critical learnings of the ISCT-Bloomberg investor survey. The webinar discussed the opinions of various CGT investor groups and explained their perspective regarding awareness, investment exposure, intentions to invest, and key concerns with investment opportunities in the CGT sector at the time of the survey. Additionally, the webinar focused on how the CGT R&D community can leverage this knowledge to improve its ability to secure investments from investors.

View Webinar Recording

October 2018

In October 2018, the ISCT member e-Newsletter, Telegraft, announced the launch of the I to I Program to ISCT’s membership community. The article illustrated the program’s aim and vision. 

View the Archived Article

September 2018

The inaugural event of the I to I Program was an investor survey created in collaboration between ISCT and Bloomberg Intelligence. The survey captured investor perceptions of key opportunities and challenges in the CGT field at the time. Survey results were published in a white paper in Cytotherapy, the Official Journal of ISCT.

Investor respondents of the ISCT-Bloomberg Intelligence survey were invited to a webinar hosted by Bloomberg featuring ISCT key opinion leaders (KOLs) Catherine Bollard, MD, MBChB (ISCT President 2016-2018), Bruce Levine, PhD (ISCT President 2020-2022), Ohad Karnieli, PhD, MBA (Past Co-Chair, ISCT Process and Product Development Subcommittee), Dawn Driscoll, PhD, MBA (Past Co-Chair, ISCT Market Access and Patient Advocacy Subcommittee) and Karen Nichols, Esq (ISCT Chief Regulatory Officer). Investors had the opportunity to ask the expert panel questions about the state of the industry, challenges, and opportunities for the field looking forward. 

View webinar recording

Read the white paper

Investigators to Investors Program Logo


Commercialization Signature Series

The ISCT Commercialization Signature Series is a unique annual event, by invitation only, for experts from academia and industry to discuss the latest challenges and opportunities facing the cell and gene therapy industry.

Commercialization Signature Series


Scientific Signature Series

ISCT Scientific Signature Series offer the unique opportunity to gather key opinion leaders in the chosen field to discuss, present and develop position statements to move the field forward. These events are aimed at driving thought leadership by providing content and building collaboration around concept papers, consensus statements, clinical networks, regulatory proposals, and recommendations for investment in clinical and basic research in cell and gene therapy medicine.

Scientific Signature Series



Early Stage Professionals Mentoring Program 

The ISCT Early Stage Professionals Committee runs an annual Mentoring Program matching mentors with small group mentorship for an 8 month program to guide career and professional development with expertise-driven matching.  The 2020-2021 edition of the program included  participants representing more than 26 countries.

The application window  for the 2021-2022 ESP Mentoring Program is now closed. 

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