HA 2025 Summary
OVERVIEW OF HA 2025
Hyaluronan 2025, the 15th conference of the International Society for Hyaluronan Sciences, was held between June 8th and 12th at the Q Center, St. Charles, Illinois. Attendees joined together in a Gordon conference-like atmosphere to engage in an amazing scientific program. There was a strong international presence with 131 registrants from 14 different countries. The weather fully cooperated to allow attendees to enjoy the beautiful grounds of the Q Center and visit the excellent restaurants of St. Charles for dinners.
Rooster Award winner Dr. Tony Day opened the meeting on Sunday evening with a fascinating journey through his many ventures into HA science, with particular emphasis on his extensive characterization of the structure and function of TSG6. The following morning, keynote speaker Dr. Vera Gorbunova provided a provocative presentation on lessons from the naked mole rat and related species on the role of HA in healthy aging. On Wednesday morning, Dr. Jason Burdick provided a keynote presentation on cutting-edge novel approaches to using HA in tissue engineering.
There were many additional excellent talks throughout 10 sessions by invited and selected speakers. Two poster sessions were the focus of many one-on-one discussions and interactions. Other award recipients presenting at the meeting included winners of the prestigious 2025 Endre Balazs and Janet Denlinger Award, Dr. Nadine Nagy, and the 2025 ISHAS Renato Iozzo Singular Achievement Award for the most significant contribution to the HA field since the last meeting went to the research group of Dr. Spencer Freeman of the University of Toronto. The notable participation by scientists representing several companies clearly demonstrated the many translational applications of HA.
The Conference Dinner featured “Sights, Sounds and Tastes of Chicago” with a live saxophone player who improvised the hyaluronan molecule with a word description of the improvisation by our own Dr. Glenn Prestwich. It was also a chance to celebrate early career researchers with travel awards being presented to Maren Döring, Flavia Piccioni, Aeliya Zaidi, Anna Strnadova, Caitlin Lewis and Sara Silva. Poster award winners were Alice T. Browne (postdoc), Jonas Ritter (medical student), Emily Allegro (postdoc), and Jade Fluharty (graduate student).
The success of 2025 would not have been possible without the generous support of sponsors, including Platinum Sponsor- HTL Biotechnology, Gold Sponsors- Bloomage Biotech and Halozyme Therapeutics, Bronze Sponsors- Anbiser, AnBreil, Seikagaku Corporation, and SyrHA Technologies as well as Altergon and the International Society for Matrix Biology. Thank-you to everyone who participated. We hope to see you in Porto in 2027!
Deva Chan, Anna Plaas, Aaron Petrey, Barbara Triggs-Raine
2025 Meeting Organizers
Book of Abstracts (Members Only)
HA 2025 Conference Awards
The Rooster Prize
2025 recipient:
ANTHONY J. DAY
(Professor of Biochemistry, Division of Cell Matrix Biology & Regenerative Medicine, University of Manchester UK)
To acknowledge his work on the structure, function, and biotechnological applications of hyaluronan binding proteins.
Thanks to the Matrix Biology Institute and Janet Denlinger for funding the Rooster Prize.
Endre Balazs & Janet Denlinger Award
This award recognizes researchers at an early phase of their independent research career for making a significant contribution (i.e., a body of work) to the development of hyaluronan science.
2025 recipient:
Nadine Nagy
Stanford University, California, USA
Academia Hyaluronica
Thanks to Janet Denlinger for funding the award.
ISHAS Renato Iozzo Singular Achievement Award
For the most significant contribution to the HA field since the HA2021 conference.
2025 recipient:
the Research Team led by Spencer Freeman
University of Toronto and Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
For elucidating hyaluronan’s critical role in cell recognition for efferocytosis.
Thanks to Renato Iozzo for funding the Award
Mark Lauer Prize
For best oral presentation by a trainee at ISHAS conference.
Poster Prizes
$250 Prizes for 4 best Poster presentations
2025 recipients:
Emily Allego (North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA)
Title: Identification and Functional Validation of UDP-Glucose Dehydrogenase Interactions with Rpn1 and Rhamm
Alice T. Browne (NIH, USA)
Title: Hyaluronic Acid as a Critical Regulator of Tumor Microenvironment Architecture and Function: Implications for Targeted ECM Remodeling in Cancer Therapy
Jade Fluharty (North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA)
Title: Integrative Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analysis Provides Insights into Metabolic Reprogramming by UDP-Glucose Dehydrogenase in Prostate Cancer
Jonas Ritter (University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany)
Title: High Molecular Weight Hyaluronan Protects Against Ozone Induced Lung Epithelial Injury
Travel Awards
$500 Travel Scholarships
2025 recipients:
Maren Döring (Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany)
Title: Role of HAS2 in Bone Marrow Niche Alterations in the Development and Progression of Type 2 Diabetes
Caitlin Lewis (University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA)
Title: Pulmonary LYVE1+ Macrophages Accumulate and Bind Hyaluronan in Response to Hypoxia, Modulated by the Redox Environment
Flavia Piccioni (Austral University, Argentina)
Title: Enhancing the Efficacy of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Current Therapies by Hyaluronan Modulation in Cancer Stem Cells
Sara Silva (I3S-University of Porto, Porto, Portugal)
Title: Fabrication of Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) Models Using Self-Assembling Peptides and Hyaluronan: From 2D to 3D
Anna Strnadovά (Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden)
Title: Hyaluronan Metabolism in Development of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
Aeliya Zaidi (Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK)
Title: Therapeutic Modulation of Stromal Hyaluronan Matrices Via Soluble Cd447/8: A Novel Strategy to Attenuate Renal Fibrosis and Enhance Renal Outcomes
We would like to thank all of our meeting Sponsors for their generous support of our Poster and Travel Scholarships
HA 2025 Platinum Sponsor
HA 2025 Gold Sponsors
HA 2025 Bronze Sponsors
HA 2025 Other Sponsors
