The 10th GSCN conference was a record-breaking conference: For the first time, the 10th conference lasted four days, it reached a number of participants of almost 500 scientists and as a guest of honor, the Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka came from Japan.
From 13 to 16 September 2022, the German Stem Cell Network held its conference in Münster at the Halle Münsterland and celebrated two anniversaries at once - the 10th anniversary of its own conference and the 20th anniversary of the NRW Stem Cell Network. Together, the two major associations reached 500 stem cell research scientists who presented and discussed their data in sessions and talks over four days.
The conference was also accompanied by an industrial fair of unprecedented size with 36 exhibitors in Münster, who also offered top-class sessions. Scientifically, the GSCN conference was a stage for international and national highlights. It was an attentive atmosphere in the packed large lecture hall when Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka presented his vision of the future of stem cell-based therapies and biobanks with cell replacement repositories in Japan. The international keynotes by Elena Cattaneo (IT), Fiona Doetsch (CH), Katsuhiko Hayashi (JAP) and Hanna Mikkola (USA) and the national keynotes by Heiko Lickert (Munich) and Dieter Birnbacher (Düsseldorf) were inspiring presentations followed by lively discussions. Conversations, science talk, data debates, both at the poster sessions, in the hallways, during the breaks, the scientists were tirelessly in lively exchange.
The presentations of the three GSCN Awardees Simon Haas (Berlin), Fatma Uzbas (Munich) and Meritxell Huch(Dresden), the more than 50 talks from the different sessions and the more than 180 posters gave reason for this. Networking is an important aspect of the GSCN conferences: So there was a get-together evening as well as a networking event in the club "Heaven", which was crowned by an anniversary lecture of Andreas Trumpp about GSCN highlights of the past 10 years.
But the GSCN conference was much more: At an ELSA symposium, scientists, philosophers, ethicists and lawyers discussed the development of the field with special regard to the discovery of the synthetic embryoid. A highly successful non-PI meeting brought over 25 young scientists to exchange ideas. The GSCN Mentoring Program set a new cohort of mentees and mentors on a promising path of collaboration and hosted a workshop on the subject.
Many highlights that together weaved a tight web for a groundbreaking conference for stem cell research in Germany.

With best regards,

Professor Dr. Hans Schöler
GSCN President (2021/2022)

Ivan Bedzhov (Münster)
Daniel Besser (Berlin)
Oliver Brüstle (Bonn)
Tobias Cantz (Hannover)
Hartmut Geiger (Ulm)
Sira Groscurth (Düsseldorf)
Hans Schöler (Münster)
Claudia Waskow (Jena)
Sara Wickström (Münster)

Also in 2022 the SARS coronavirus-2 (SARS-Cov-2) is still causing severe restrictions on public life worldwide. The health and safety of GSCN conference participants is our top priority. For this reason, we will follow the guidelines of the responsible authorities. We cannot foresee at the current time (February 2022) how the regulations will be in September 2022. BUT: We are confident after the conference in Dresden 2021 with a strict and succesful hygienic regimen, that the conference in Münster will take place, in person and under safe conditions. We will inform you about specific regulations if there are any changes.