iZumi Bio, a young South San Francisco, California-based company working in the emerging area of induced pluripotent stem cells, has just announced a collaboration around the technology with Kyoto University where the pioneering work in coaxing adult cells into pluripotent cells was performed. iZumi, founded in 2007 and backed with funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and Highland Capital Partners, is pursuing applications of the cells for both drug development and therapeutics. We spoke to iZumi CEO John Walker about the excitement around iPS cells, the new agreement with Kyoto University, and iZumi’s plans for the future.