For the final post of 2010, here are some stem cell highlights from the past year (in no particular order).Three trials based on embryonic stem cells were approved by the FDA: two for forms of vision loss (Stargardt's and macular degeneration) and one for spinal cord injury. (Update on 1/3/11: only two trials received FDA … Continue reading Stem cell research highlights 2010

A pancreatic beta cell. Image by Itkin-Ansari labType 1 diabetes has been a major focus of CIRM funding, including a disease team award to San Diego-based ViaCyte that is expected to bring a therapy to trial within four years.Sanford-Burnham has a great post on their blog about how stem cell therapies for diabetes might work. … Continue reading Stem cell therapies for diabetes: wrap them up

Joanna WysockaStem cell research generally doesn’t make the news unless it’s a story about diseases and cures. We push toward cures every day here at CIRM, but we also fund a lot of the less flashy science that — though it doesn’t make the daily news — we think will one day underlie many of … Continue reading Genetic regions guide embryonic stem cell development

The response to the story about the Berlin patient who was reported cured of  HIV has been incredible, but in this case it’s also a little troubling. What I see in comments on news stories or in tweets is that we have an uphill battle in terms of educating people about stem cells.The stem cells … Continue reading More on the Berlin patient, stem cells, and a cure for HIV

There’s a lot of buzz today over a paper in the journal Blood declaring a man who has come to be known as the “Berlin patient” cured of HIV. The same patient was featured in the New England Journal of Medicine in February 2009. A man infected with HIV needed a bone marrow transplant for … Continue reading Stem cell therapy treats HIV, basis for two CIRM disease teams

On Wednesday the CIRM governing board heard from the external review panel that evaluated CIRM’s activities. (You can read their report and bios here.)One especially interesting portion of the conversation had to do with outreach: how do we let the people of California know about our progress? The panel and several board members mentioned our … Continue reading CIRM looking for a few good ambassadors

Aaron Levine from Georgia Tech published a letter in Nature Biotechnology assessing state funding for stem cell research, and he came to a conclusion that matches our own. In a press release he said:"There's no question that these state programs drew a lot of scientists into the field."That’s good news; Given the difficulty of generating … Continue reading California funds the most stem cell research not eligible for federal funding

More good news for people with spinal cord injury out of the University of California, Irvine: two CIRM grantees collaborated with Palo Alto-based StemCells Inc. to develop a neural stem cell therapy that has been approved for a trial in Switzerland.Brian Cummings and Aileen Anderson did the preclinical work on the possible treatment, which will … Continue reading CIRM grantees at UCI collaborate on Swiss spinal cord injury trial

Yesterday a three judge panel of the U.S. Appeals Court heard oral arguments in the legal case that has threatened federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research since August.Nature has an excellent piece with excerpts from the arguments. The central issue is whether funding for research using human embryonic stem cells is in violation … Continue reading Oral arguments made in federal stem cell case

The purpose of this blog is to talk about the advances in stem cell science, and the progress being made by CIRM grantees. However, sometimes CIRM itself is a focus of  news that warrants us updating readers about our own activities.There has been much speculation in the news about the person who will become the … Continue reading Run down on CIRM’s quest for the next chair