Last weekend Nature published a paper showing that nerve cells derived from embryonic stem cells can treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease in mice, rats and monkeys. The scientists, who were from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, started with embryonic stem cells. They matured those cells into precursors of the ones that disappear in … Continue reading Neurons made from embryonic stem cells treat Parkinson’s disease symptoms in animals

Kids made embryonic stem cells out of Play Doh at the Bay Area Science Festival.It was fun waking up yesterday morning to the headline in the San Francisco Chronicle "Science fair hits it out of the park." It was a bit of an obvious headline because on Sunday 21,000 people had come to AT&T Park, … Continue reading Kids lined up shoulder-to-shoulder to create stem cells

At our governing board meeting on October 26, the board approved a $30 million initiative that will be critical for making sure that research funded by CIRM eventually makes it to patients.In the past year, CIRM has begun funding early phase clinical trials for stem cell-based therapies. These early phase clinical trials are done to … Continue reading Forming industry partnerships, ensuring new therapies reach patients

Each month CIRM President Alan Trounson gives his perspective on recently published papers he thinks will be valuable in moving the field of stem cell research forward. This month’s report, along with an archive of past reports, is available on the CIRM website.This month’s lead story garnered considerable media attention. A team at the New … Continue reading Guest blogger Alan Trounson — October’s stem cell research highlights

Yesterday brought news about stem cells in older people. Today, there's news by CIRM grantees about how a single gene alteration in a stem cell can help keep an entire organ more youthful -- at least in flies.The work was by a team of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Salk Institute … Continue reading Fly stem cells give insights into aging and longevity

We've written quite a bit about research by CIRM grantee Irina Conboy at the University if California Berkeley (blogged here), who has found that the muscle stem cells in older people don't respond as enthusiastically to repair muscle damage — much to the dismay of aging athletes. What they've also learned is that environment is … Continue reading Older stem cells returned to youth