Stem Cell Awareness Day

Join Us on Stem Cell Awareness Day (October 12)!

/ Esteban Cortez / Leave a comment

In 2004, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was created by the people of California to accelerate stem cell treatments to patients with unmet medical needs.  
 
Since then, we’ve expanded our mission to accelerate world class science for California and the world. We’ve funded and supported a pipeline of medical research from initial scientific discovery to development and testing. We also remain committed to training the next generation of regenerative medicine scientists to research cutting edge therapies for patients.  
 
We’ve achieved a lot but recognize there’s still lots more work to be done. That’s why we’re inviting everyone to join us for a virtual webinar on October 12th for Stem Cell Awareness Day, a day when we mark the progress being made in regenerative medicine, stem cell and gene therapy research. 
 
This Stem Cell Awareness Day, the CIRM team will highlight our achievements in research, clinical trials and education. We will also look ahead to explore how we can best further our mission. 
 
Speakers will include: 
Jonathan Thomas — Chair, CIRM Board  
Dr. Kelly Shepard — Associate Director, Scientific Programs 
Dr. Lisa Kadyk — Associate Director, Therapeutics Development 
Dr. Mitra Hooshmand — Sr. Science Officer, Special Projects & Strategic Initiatives 
 
The event is free and you can register here. If you have a question you would like to ask the team, please email them to info@cirm.ca.gov ahead of time. We will do our best to answer all questions during the webinar and those we can’t get to we’ll answer The Stem Cellar.  
 
We look forward to seeing you there! 

Celebrating Stem Cell Awareness Day

/ Kevin McCormack / Leave a comment

THIS BLOD IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIOCAST ON SPOTIFY

The second Wednesday in October is celebrated as Stem Cell Awareness Day. It’s an event that CIRM has been part of since then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched it back in 2008 saying: ”The discoveries being made today in our Golden State will have a great impact on many around the world for generations to come.”

In the past we would have helped coordinate presentations by scientists in schools and participated in public events. COVID of course has changed all that. So, this year, to help mark the occasion we asked some people who have been in the forefront of making Governor Schwarzenegger’s statement come true, to share their thoughts and feelings about the day. Here’s what they had to say.

What do you think is the biggest achievement so far in stem cell research?

Dr. Jan Nolta

Jan Nolta, PhD., Director of the Stem Cell Program at UC Davis School of Medicine, and directs the new Institute for Regenerative Cures. “The work of Don Kohn and his UCLA colleagues and team members throughout the years- developing stem cell gene therapy cures for over 50 children with Bubble baby disease. I was very fortunate to work with Don for the first 15 years of my career and know that development of these cures was guided by his passion to help his patients.

Dr. Clive Svendsen

Clive Svendsen, PhD. Director, Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars-Sinai: “Without a doubt the discovery of how to make human iPSCs by Shinya Yamanaka and Jamie Thomson.”

When people ask you what kind of impact CIRM and stem cell research has had on your life what do you say?

Ronnie and his parents celebrating his 1st birthday. (Photo courtesy of Pawash Priyank)

Pawash Priyank and Upasana Thakur, parents of Ronnie, who was born with a life-threatening immune disorder but is thriving today thanks to a CIRM-funded clinical trial at UC San Francisco. “This is beyond just a few words and sentences but we will give it a shot. We are living happily today seeing Ronnie explore the world day by day, and this is only because of what CIRM does every day and what Stem cell research has done to humanity. Researchers and scientists come up with innovative ideas almost every day around the globe but unless those ideas are funded or brought to implementation in any manner, they are just in the minds of those researchers and would never be useful for humanity in any manner. CIRM has been that source to bring those ideas to the table, provide facilities and mechanisms to get those actually implemented which eventually makes babies like Ronnie survive and see the world. That’s the impact CIRM has. We have witnessed and heard several good arguments back in India in several forums which could make difference in the world in different sectors of lives but those ideas never come to light because of the lack of organizations like CIRM, lack of interest from people running the government. An organization like CIRM and the interest of the government to fund them with an interest in science and technology actually changes the lives of people when some of those ideas come to see the light of real implementation. 

What are your biggest hopes for the future at UC Davis?

Jan Nolta, PhD: “The future of stem cell and gene therapy research is very bright at UC Davis, thanks to CIRM and our outstanding leadership. We currently have 48 clinical trials ongoing in this field, with over 20 in the pipeline, and are developing a new education and technology complex, Aggie Square, next to the Institute for Regenerative Cures, where our program is housed. We are committed to our very diverse patient population throughout the Sacramento region and Northern California, and to expanding and increasing the number of novel therapies that can be brought to all patients who need them.”

What are your biggest hopes for the future at Cedars-Sinai?

Clive Svendsen, PhD: “That young investigators will get CIRM or NIH funding and be leaders in the regenerative medicine field.”

What do you hope is the future for stem cell research?

Pawash Priyank and Upasana Thakur: “We always have felt good about stem cell therapy. For us, a stem cell has transformed our lives completely. The correction of sequencing in the DNA taken out of Ronnie and injecting back in him has given him life. It has given him the immune system to fight infections. Seeing him grow without fear of doing anything, or going anywhere gives us so much happiness every hour. That’s the impact of stem cell research. With right minds continuing to research further in stem cell therapy bounded by certain good processes & laws around (so that misuse of the therapy couldn’t be done) will certainly change the way treatments are done for certain incurable diseases. I certainly see a bright future for stem cell research.”

On a personal note what is the moment that touched you the most in this journey.

Jan Nolta, PhD: “Each day a new patient or their story touches my heart. They are our inspiration for working hard to bring new options to their care through cell and gene therapy.”

Clive Svendsen, PhD: “When I realized we would get the funding to try and treat ALS with stem cells”

How important is it to raise awareness about stem cell research and to educate the next generation about it?

Pawash Priyank and Upasana Thakur: “Implementing stem cell therapy as a curriculum in the educational systems right from the beginning of middle school and higher could prevent false propaganda of it through social media. Awareness among people with accurate articles right from the beginning of their education is really important. This will also encourage the new generation to choose this as a subject in their higher studies and contribute towards more research to bring more solutions for a variety of diseases popping up every day.”

Battling COVID and turning back the clock on stem cell funding

/ Kevin McCormack / 5 Comments
Coronavirus

Battling the virus that causes COVID-19 is something that is top of everyone’s mind right now. That’s why CIRM is funding 17 different projects targeting the virus. But one of the most valuable tools in helping develop vaccines against a wide variety of diseases in the past is now coming under threat. We’ll talk about both issues in a live broadcast we’re holding on Wednesday, October 14th at noon (PDT).

That date is significant because it’s Stem Cell Awareness Day and we thought it appropriate to host a meeting looking at two of the most important issues facing the field.

The first part of the event will focus on the 17 projects that CIRM is funding that target COVID-19. This includes three clinical trials aiming to treat people who have been infected with the virus and are experiencing some of the more severe effects, such as damaged lungs.

We’ll also look at some of the earlier stage research that includes:

  • Work to help develop a vaccine
  • Using muscle stem cells to help repair damage to the diaphragm in patients who have spent an extended period on a ventilator
  • Boosting immune system cells to help fight the virus

The second part of the event will look at ways that funding for stem cell research at the federal level is once again coming into question. The federal government has already imposed new restrictions on funding for fetal tissue research, and now there are efforts in Congress to restrict funding for embryonic stem cell research.

The impacts could be significant. Fetal tissue has been used for decades to help develop some of the most important vaccines used today including rubella, chickenpox, hepatitis A, and shingles. They have also been used to make approved drugs against diseases including hemophilia, rheumatoid arthritis, and cystic fibrosis.

We’ll look at some of the reasons why we are seeing these potential restrictions on the medical research and what impact they could have on the ability to develop new treatments for the coronavirus and other deadly diseases.

You can watch the CIRM Stem Cell Awareness Day live event by going here: https://www.youtube.com/c/CIRMTV/videos at noon on Wednesday, October 14th.

Feel free to share news about this event with anyone you think might be interested.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Encouraging Progress for Two CIRM Supported Clinical Trials

/ Yimy Villa / 4 Comments

This past Wednesday was Stem Cell Awareness Day, a day that is meant to remind us all of the importance of stem cell research and the potential it has to treat a wide variety of diseases. On this day, we also released an independent Economic Impact Report that showed how $10.7 Billion (yes, you read that right) was generated as a direct result of the the legacy we have built as a state agency that funds groundbreaking research.

Aside from the monetary incentive, which is an added bonus, the research we fund has made encouraging progress in the scientific field and has demonstrated the positive impact it can have on various disease areas. This week, two clinical trials supported by CIRM funding have released very promising updates.

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Capricor Therapeutics, Inc. has presented positive results for a clinical trial related to a treatment for duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a genetic disorder. DMD leads to progressive muscle degeneration and weakness due to its effect on a protein called dystrophin, which helps keep muscle cells intact.

The treatment that Capricor is testing is called CAP-1002 and consists of a unique population of cells that contain cardiac progenitor cells, a type of stem cell, that help encourage the regeneration of cells. CIRM funded an earlier clinical trial for this treatment.

The early results of this current trial describe how teens and young men in the advanced stages of DMD saw improvements in skeletal, lung, and heart measurements after receiving multiple doses of the treatment.

In a news release, Dr. Linda Marban, Chief Executive Officer of Capricor, expresses optimism for this clinical trial by saying,

“We are very pleased that the interim analysis from this double-blind placebo-controlled study, has demonstrated meaningful improvements across three clinically relevant endpoints in older patients with limited remaining treatment options.”

In the same news release, Dr. Craig McDonald, the national principal investigator for the trial, echoes the same sentiment by stating,

“The results from this trial to date are very promising in that the cells appear to positively impact skeletal, pulmonary and cardiac assessments in older DMD patients who have few, if any, remaining treatment options. We are eager to meet with the FDA to discuss the next steps for this promising program.”

Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Additionally, Oncternal Therapeutics has decided, because of positive results, to open an expansion of its CIRM-funded clinical trial aimed at treating patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). The treatment involves an antibody called cirmtuzumab, named after us, in combination with a drug called ibrutinib.

The preliminary results were from the first six patients with MCL that were treated in the trial. One patient with MCL, who had relapsed following an allogeneic stem cell transplant, experienced a confirmed complete response (CR) after three months of cirmtuzumab plus ibrutinib treatment. This complete response appears to be sustained and has been confirmed to be ongoing after completing 12 months of the combination treatment. A second confirmed complete response occurred in a patient who had progressive disease after failing several different chemotherapy regimens, bone marrow transplant and CAR-T therapy. 

In a news release, Dr. Hun Lee, an investigator in the trial, states that,

“It is encouraging to see that the drug has been well tolerated as well as the early signal of efficacy of cirmtuzumab with ibrutinib in MCL, particularly the rapid and durable complete responses of the heavily pre-treated patients after three months of therapy, which is an unusually fast response in this patient population.”

Hits and Myths as people celebrate Stem Cell Awareness Day

/ Kevin McCormack / Leave a comment

UC Davis #1

Stem Cell Awareness Day at UC Davis

Every year, the second Wednesday in October is set aside as Stem Cell Awareness Day, a time to celebrate the progress being made in the field and to remind us of the challenges that lie ahead.

While the event began here in California in 2008, with then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger highlighting the work of CIRM, saying: ”The discoveries being made today in our Golden State will have a great impact on many around the world for generations to come.” It has since grown to become a global event.

Here in California, for example, UC Davis and the University of Southern California (USC) both held events to mark the day.

At UC Davis Jan Nolta, PhD., the Director of the Stem Cell Program, introduced a series of speakers who highlighted the terrific work being done at the university. Peter Belafsky talked about using stem cells to repair damaged trachea and to help people who are experiencing voice or swallowing disorders. Mark Lee highlighted the progress being made in using stem cells to repair hard-to-heal broken bones. Aijun Wang focused on some really exciting work that could one day lead to a therapy for spina bifida (including some ridiculously cute video of English bulldogs who are able to walk again because of this therapy.)

USC hosted 100 local high school students for a panel presentation and discussion about careers in stem cell research. The panel featured four scientists talking about their experience, why the students should think about a career in science and how to go about planning one. USC put together a terrific video of the researchers talking about their experiences, something that can help any student around the US consider becoming part of the future of stem cell research.

Similar events were held in other institutions around California. But the celebration wasn’t limited to the Golden State. At the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, Texas, they held an event to talk to the public about the clinical trials they are supporting using stem cells to help people suffering from heart failure or other heart-related issues.

RegMedNet

Finally, the UK-based RegMedNet, a community site that unites the diverse regenerative medicine community, marked the day by exploring some of the myths and misconceptions still surrounding stem cells and stem cell research.

You can read those here.

Every group takes a different approach to celebrating Stem Cell Awareness Day, but each is united by a common desire, to help people understand the progress being made in finding new treatments and even cures for people with unmet medical needs.

Stem Cell Stories That Caught Our Eye: Halting Brain Cancer, Parkinson’s disease and Stem Cell Awareness Day

/ Karen Ring / Leave a comment

Stopping brain cancer in its tracks.

Experiments by a team of NIH-funded scientists suggests a potential method for halting the expansion of certain brain tumors.Michelle Monje, M.D., Ph.D., Stanford University.

Scientists at Stanford Medicine discovered that you can halt aggressive brain cancers called high-grade gliomas by cutting off their supply of a signaling protein called neuroligin-3. Their research, which was funded by CIRM and the NIH, was published this week in the journal Nature. 

The Stanford team, led by senior author Michelle Monje, had previously discovered that neuroligin-3 dramatically spurred the growth of glioma cells in the brains of mice. In their new study, the team found that removing neuroligin-3 from the brains of mice that were transplanted with human glioma cells prevented the cancer cells from spreading.

Monje explained in a Stanford news release,

“We thought that when we put glioma cells into a mouse brain that was neuroligin-3 deficient, that might decrease tumor growth to some measurable extent. What we found was really startling to us: For several months, these brain tumors simply didn’t grow.”

The team is now exploring whether targeting neuroligin-3 will be an effective therapeutic treatment for gliomas. They tested two inhibitors of neuroligin-3 secretion and saw that both were effective in stunting glioma growth in mice.

Because blocking neuroligin-3 doesn’t kill glioma cells and gliomas eventually find ways to grow even in the absence of neuroligin-3, Monje is now hoping to develop a combination therapy with neuroligin-3 inhibitors that will cure patients of high-grade gliomas.

“We have a really clear path forward for therapy; we are in the process of working with the company that owns the clinically characterized compound in an effort to bring it to a clinical trial for brain tumor patients. We will have to attack these tumors from many different angles to cure them. Any measurable extension of life and improvement of quality of life is a real win for these patients.”

Parkinson’s Institute CIRM Research Featured on KTVU News.

The Bay Area Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center located in Sunnyvale, California, was recently featured on the local KTVU news station. The five-minute video below features patients who attend the clinic at the Parkinson’s Institute as well as scientists who are doing cutting edge research into Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Parkinson’s disease in a dish. Dopaminergic neurons made from PD induced pluripotent stem cells. (Image courtesy of Birgitt Schuele).

One of these scientists is Dr. Birgitt Schuele, who recently was awarded a discovery research grant from CIRM to study a new potential therapy for Parkinson’s using human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from PD patients. Schuele explains that the goal of her team’s research is to “generate a model for Parkinson’s disease in a dish, or making a brain in a dish.”

It’s worth watching the video in its entirety to learn how this unique institute is attempting to find new ways to help the growing number of patients being diagnosed with this degenerative brain disease.

Click on photo to view video.

Mark your calendars for Stem Cell Awareness Day!

Every year on the second Wednesday of October is Stem Cell Awareness Day (SCAD). This is a day that our agency started back in 2009, with a proclamation by former California Mayor Gavin Newsom, to honor the important accomplishments made in the field of stem cell research by scientists, doctors and institutes around the world.

This year, SCAD is on October 11th. Our Agency will be celebrating this day with a special patient advocate event on Tuesday October 10th at the UC Davis MIND Institute in Sacramento California. CIRM grantees Dr. Jan Nolta, the Director of UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures, and Dr. Diana Farmer, Chair of the UC Davis Department of Surgery, will be talking about their CIRM-funded research developing stem cell models and potential therapies for Huntington’s disease and spina bifida (a birth defect where the spinal cord fails to fully develop). You’ll also hear an update on  CIRM’s progress from our President and CEO (Interim), Maria Millan, MD, and Chairman of the Board, Jonathan Thomas, PhD, JD. If you’re interested in attending this event, you can RSVP on our Eventbrite Page.

Be sure to check out a list of other Stem Cell Awareness Day events during the month of October on our website. You can also follow the hashtag #StemCellAwarenessDay on Twitter to join in on the celebration!

One last thing. October is an especially fun month because we also get to celebrate Pluripotency Day on October 4th. OCT4 is an important gene that maintains stem cell pluripotency – the ability of a stem cell to become any cell type in the body – in embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells. Because not all stem cells are pluripotent (there are adult stem cells in your tissues and organs) it makes sense to celebrate these days separately. And who doesn’t love having more reasons to celebrate science?

Stories that caught our eye: stem cell transplants help put MS in remission; unlocking the cause of autism; and a day to discover what stem cells are all about

/ Kevin McCormack / Leave a comment

multiple-sclerosis

Motor neurons

Stem cell transplants help put MS in remission: A combination of high dose immunosuppressive therapy and transplant of a person’s own blood stem cells seems to be a powerful tool in helping people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) go into sustained remission.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder where the body’s own immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord, causing a wide variety of symptoms including overwhelming fatigue, blurred vision and mobility problems. RRMS is the most common form of MS, affecting up to 85 percent of people, and is characterized by attacks followed by periods of remission.

The HALT-MS trial, which was sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), took the patient’s own blood stem cells, gave the individual chemotherapy to deplete their immune system, then returned the blood stem cells to the patient. The stem cells created a new blood supply and seemed to help repair the immune system.

Five years after the treatment, most of the patients were still in remission, despite not taking any medications for MS. Some people even recovered some mobility or other capabilities that they had lost due to the disease.

In a news release, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of NIAID, said anything that holds the disease at bay and helps people avoid taking medications is important:

“These extended findings suggest that one-time treatment with HDIT/HCT may be substantially more effective than long-term treatment with the best available medications for people with a certain type of MS. These encouraging results support the development of a large, randomized trial to directly compare HDIT/HCT to standard of care for this often-debilitating disease.”

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Scripps Research Institute

Using stem cells to model brain development disorders. (Karen Ring) CIRM-funded scientists from the Scripps Research Institute are interested in understanding how the brain develops and what goes wrong to cause intellectual disabilities like Fragile X syndrome, a genetic disease that is a common cause of autism spectrum disorder.

Because studying developmental disorders in humans is very difficult, the Scripps team turned to stem cell models for answers. This week, in the journal Brain, they published a breakthrough in our understanding of the early stages of brain development. They took induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), made from cells from Fragile X syndrome patients, and turned these cells into brain cells called neurons in a cell culture dish.

They noticed an obvious difference between Fragile X patient iPSCs and healthy iPSCs: the patient stem cells took longer to develop into neurons, a result that suggests a similar delay in fetal brain development. The neurons from Fragile X patients also had difficulty forming synaptic connections, which are bridges that allow for information to pass from one neuron to another.

Scripps Research professor Jeanne Loring said that their findings could help to identify new drug therapies to treat Fragile X syndrome. She explained in a press release;

“We’re the first to see that these changes happen very early in brain development. This may be the only way we’ll be able to identify possible drug treatments to minimize the effects of the disorder.”

Looking ahead, Loring and her team will apply their stem cell model to other developmental diseases. She said, “Now we have the tools to ask the questions to advance people’s health.”

A Day to Discover What Stem Cells Are All about.  (Karen Ring) Everyone is familiar with the word stem cells, but do they really know what these cells are and what they are capable of? Scientists are finding creative ways to educate the public and students about the power of stem cells and stem cell research. A great example is the University of Southern California (USC), which is hosting a Stem Cell Day of Discovery to educate middle and high school students and their families about stem cell research.

The event is this Saturday at the USC Health Sciences Campus and will feature science talks, lab tours, hands-on experiments, stem cell lab video games, and a resource fair. It’s a wonderful opportunity for families to engage in science and also to expose young students to science in a fun and engaging way.

Interest in Stem Cell Day has been so high that the event has already sold out. But don’t worry, there will be another stem cell day next year. And for those of you who don’t live in Southern California, mark your calendars for the 2017 Stem Cell Awareness Day on Wednesday, October 11th. There will be stem cell education events all over California and in other parts of the country during that week in honor of this important day.

 

 

Seeing is Believing: New Video on the Power of Stem Cells

/ Karen Ring / 3 Comments

skepticThe world is full of skeptics. Remember when you first heard about self-driving cars? I’m sure that information was met with comments like, “When pigs fly!” or “I’ll believe it when I see it!” Well, it turns out that the best way to get people to believe something is possible, is to show them.

And that’s our mission at CIRM. To show people that stem cell research is important and funding it is essential for the development of future therapies that can help patients with all sorts of diseases be they rare, acute, or chronic.

We’re doing this in multiple ways through our Stem Cellar blog and social media channels where we post about the latest advances in regenerative medicine research towards the clinic, through disease walks and support groups where we educate patients about stem cells, and through fun and engaging videos about the cutting-edge research that our agency is funding.

Last month, the world celebrated Stem Cell Awareness Day on October 12th. One of the ways we celebrated at CIRM was to give talks at local institutes about the power of stem cells for research and therapeutic development. One of these talks was at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato as part of their special public event on “Turning Promise of Regenerative Medicine into Reality” supported by the STEAM ENGINE, the teacher outreach program at the Buck Institute.

Kevin, CIRM’s communicators director, and I did a joint presentation on the different ways that scientists are using stem cells to model disease and to develop new treatments for patients. We also shared a few particularly exciting stories about new stem cell advancements that are being tested in clinical trials. One of them was a heartbreaking turned heartwarming story of Evangelina, a baby born with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), a disease that leaves children without a functioning immune system and often kills babies within a year of birth. Evangelina was part of a CIRM-funded clinical trial run by UC Los Angeles that transplanted the patient’s own genetically corrected blood stem cells. Evangelina is one of 30 children the UCLA team has cured and CIRM is now funding a Phase 2 clinical trial for this work.

Our talk was followed by exciting stories of stem cell research in the lab. Three talented postdoctoral fellows, who spoke about new developments in stem cell therapies for HIV, degenerative eye disease and neurodegenerative diseases. The talks were well received by the audience, who were actively speaking up to ask questions during the panel discussion with the speakers.

Panel on stem cells.

Stem cell panel: Kevin McCormack, Imilce Rodriguez-Fernandez, Joana Neves, Karen Ring.

It was a truly inspiring day full of learning and excitement about the future of stem cell research and regenerative medicine. But for the skeptics out there, don’t take my word for it, you can see for yourself by can watching the video recording here:

Related Links:

Celebrating Stem Cell Awareness Day with SUPER CELLS!

/ Karen Ring / Leave a comment

scad_logo_2016

To all you stem cell lovers out there, today is your day! The second Wednesday of October is Stem Cell Awareness Day (SCAD), which brings together organizations and individuals that are working to ensure the general public realizes the benefits of stem cell research.

For patients in desperate need of treatments for diseases without cures, this is also a day to recognize their struggles and the scientific advances in the stem cell field that are bringing us closer to helping these patients.

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Induced pluripotent stem cells.

How are people celebrating SCAD?

This year, a number of institutes in California are hosting events in honor of Stem Cell Awareness Day. Members of the CIRM team will be speaking on Saturday about “The Power of Stem Cells” at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato (RSVP on Facebook) and at the Berkeley Student Society for Stem Cell Research Conference in Berkeley (RSVP on Eventbrite). There are also a few SCAD events going on this week in Southern California. You can learn more about these all events on our website.

You can also find out about other SCAD celebrations and events on social media by following the hashtag #StemCellAwarenessDay and #StemCellDay on Twitter.

Super Cells: The Power of Stem Cells

Super Cells exhibit at the Lawrence Hall of Science

Super Cells exhibit at the Lawrence Hall of Science

Today, the CIRM Stem Cellar is celebrating SCAD by sharing our recent visit to the Lawrence Hall of Science, which is currently hosting an exhibit called “Super Cells: The Power of Stem Cells”.

This is a REALLY COOL interactive exhibit that explains what stem cells are, what they do, and how we can harness their power to treat disease and injury. CIRM was one of the partners that helped create this exhibit, so we were especially excited to see it in person.

Super Cells has four “high-tech interactive zones and a comprehensive educational guide for school children ages 6-14”. You can read more details about the exhibit in this promotional handout. Based on my visit to the exhibit, I can easily say­­ that Super Cells will be interesting and informative to any age group.

The exhibit was unveiled on September 28th, and the Hall told us that they have already heard positive reviews from their visitors. We had the opportunity to talk further with Susan Gregory, the Deputy Director of the Hall, and Adam Frost, a marketing specialist, about the Super Cells exhibit. We asked them a few questions and will share their interview below followed by a few fun pictures we took of the exhibit.

Q: Why did the Lawrence Hall of Science decide to host the Super Cells exhibit?

The Lawrence Hall of Science has a history of bringing in exciting and engaging traveling exhibitions, and we were looking for something new to excite our visitors in the Fall season. When the opportunity presented itself to host Super Cells, we thought it would be a good fit for our audience. Additionally, the Hall is increasing its programming and exhibits in the fields of biology, chemistry and bioengineering.

Q: What aspects of the Super Cells exhibit do you think are valuable to younger kids?

We strive to make our exhibit experiences hands-on and interactive. The Hall believes that the best way for kids to learn science is for them to be active in their learning. Super Cells offers a variety of elements that speak to our philosophy of learning and make learning science more fun.

Q: How is exhibit similar or unique to other exhibits you’ve hosted previously?

 The Hall hosts and develops exhibits across a broad range of scientific, engineering, technology and mathematical topics. We are always looking for exhibits that address recent scientific advances, and also try to showcase cutting edge research.

Super Cells presents both basic cell biology and information about recent medical and scientific advances, so it fits. Also, as mentioned in our behind the scenes story about the exhibit install, in the past many of our traveling exhibits were very large experiences that tended to take up a lot of space on the museum floor. One thing that is great about Super Cells is that it packs a lot of information into a relatively small space, allowing us to keep a number of experiences and activities that our audience has come to love on the floor, instead of removing them to make room.

Q: Will there be any special events at the Hall featuring this exhibit?

On November 11, the Hall will host a fun day of activities centered around DNA and the exhibit. Younger visitors will make DNA bracelets based on the unique traits in their genome, while older kids will isolate their own DNA using a swab from inside their cheek. We are still finalizing the details of this event, but it will definitely happen.

Q:  Why do you think it’s important for younger students and the general public to learn about stem cells and stem cell research?

As UC Berkeley’s public science center, the Hall is committed to providing a window into cutting edge research and the latest scientific information. We think it’s really important for people and kids to learn about the skills and science behind current research so they can be prepared for a future of incredible scientific challenges and opportunities that we can’t foresee.

Super Cells will be open at the Lawrence Hall of Science until November 27th, so be sure to check it out before then. If you don’t live in California, don’t worry, Super Cells will be traveling around the U.S., Europe and Canada. You can find out where Super Cells is touring next on their website.

We hope you enjoy our photos of the Super Cells exhibit!

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Happy Stem Cell Awareness Day!

/ Karen Ring / 1 Comment

SCAD_Logo_2015I woke up today extra early this morning feeling like a kid at Christmas time because it’s Stem Cell Awareness day!

This exciting day brings together organizations and people around the world working to ensure that we realize the benefits of one of the most promising fields of science in our time. The day is a unique global opportunity to foster greater understanding about stem cell research and the range of potential applications for disease and injury.

For the millions of people around the world who suffer from incurable diseases and injury, Stem Cell Awareness Day is a day to celebrate the scientific advances made to-date and be hopeful of what is yet to come.

Institutions and scientists around the world will be participating in talks and activities that celebrate and also educate the community about stem cell research. For a list of events, check out our Stem Cell Awareness Day webpage. You can also follow other events on twitter by following the hashtags #stemcellday and #astemcellscientistbecause.

In celebration of this exciting day, the Stem Cellar team would like to highlight a few videos and webpages dedicated to stem cell awareness. Enjoy!

Videos:

“A Stem Cell Story” from our friends at EuroStemCell

#AStemCellScientistBecause videos via Cell Stem Cell on twitter

 

Stem Cell Awareness Webpages: