The Jackson Laboratory

Twenty years after the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) transformed biomedical research, the field is entering a new era shaped by advances in cellular engineering, genetics, AI and regenerative medicine.

In this new article, scientists from the JAX-NYSCF Collaborative reflect on the breakthroughs that have defined the past two decades of stem cell science and the possibilities ahead.

As the stem cell community marks 20 years of iPSCs, the upcoming 20th annual JAX-NYSCF Conference this September will bring together many of the researchers and innovators helping shape the field’s future.

Read more about the evolution of stem cell science and where it may lead next:

Celebrating 20 years of progress for global stem cell research Scientists in the JAX-NYSCF Collaborative reflect on two decades of breakthroughs and the power of stem cells in driving a new frontier of translational science

A major step for genetic medicine and the rare disease community: successful application of base editing to repair DNA in a rare, incurable, and potentially deadly form of childhood epilepsy.

Scientists at The JAX Rare Disease Translational Center, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and UMass Chan Medical School used base gene editing to repair a DNA error in mice that causes Dravet syndrome.

After the edit, the mice had far fewer seizures and lived much longer.

The research was published today in Science Translational Medicine.

Precision DNA editing targets root cause of severe childhood epilepsy in preclinical study It’s the latest breakthrough from a collaboration advancing gene editing toward real-world treatments for rare diseases.

This featured image from the O'Connell Lab at JAX reveals molecular maps of mouse brain tissue generated with spatial transcriptomics—a technology that shows where genes are active within intact tissue. Each color represents a distinct cellular neighborhood shaped by unique genetic activity.

By mapping these neighborhoods across healthy, aging, and diseased brains, JAX researchers are uncovering how Alzheimer’s disease spreads through critical brain regions involved in memory and cognition.

Get the full story: https://www.jax.org/news-and-insights/2026/may/mapping-cellular-neighborhoods-in-a-mouse-brain