Normal aging takes many decades to create major changes in our cells, so it is very difficult to study. As a result, very little is known about this fundamental inevitability of life. But that may change with the help of an unfortunate child, who by the bad luck of a single point mutation developed a … Continue reading Disease in a dish model provides insight on aging

This past week was muscular dystrophy awareness week, which seems like a short amount of time to focus on such a heartbreaking disease. One in every 3500 boys in the US develops that debilitating and fatal Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) - the most common and serious form of muscular dystrophy - and there is no … Continue reading Reflecting on muscular dystrophy awareness week

Gerhard Bauer in the UC Davis GMP facilityOne of the real thrills of working at CIRM is talking to the researchers who are so excited about finding new therapies. As part of our lunchtime talk series, today we heard from Gerhard Bauer of UC Davis. The only thing more exciting to Bauer than new therapies … Continue reading UC Davis scientist on a quest for cures in the cleanest of labs

Guest blogger Geoff LomaxSenior Officer to the Standards Working Group I was chatting, over a nice bottle of wine, with some long-time friends of mine at the Breakthrough Institute. They advocate federal funding to advance clean energy technology in the U.S. They were curious about the ongoing litigation over NIH funding for human embryonic stem … Continue reading From Sputnik to Stem Cells

It seems like the stem cell news cycle alternates between stories of incremental hope (take the heart disease model for drug discovery out of Stanford today) and stories decrying the woeful lack of cures out of CIRM. I think the popular imagination went from the word “cure” when Proposition 71 passed in 2004 to an … Continue reading Where are the cures?

Today the University of California, San Francisco is unveiling their brand new CIRM-funded stem cell building. It’s not the largest of the 12 new buildings CIRM has funded throughout the state, but it sure is pretty with its labs perched along the Parnassus campus hillside. Like all of the new buildings, CIRM’s investment in this … Continue reading New UCSF stem cell building — a beautiful setting for discovering new therapies

It appears we weren't the only people to notice last week's convergence of reprogrammed iPS cell news -- first they are made better, then they are suggested to be worthless. USA Today ran a story summing up several years' worth of such news. (For those not up-to-speed on iPS cells, you can watch this video … Continue reading The confusing (and ongoing) story of iPS vs. embryonic stem cells

The New York Times health blog has a story today adding yet another reason for regular exercise: It’s good for stem cells in your bone marrow. When I run, I’m not generally thinking about my bone marrow, I admit. But there are times when I’m thinking about fat (or rather, how much of it I … Continue reading Exercising for the health of my stem cells