Back in July, we kicked off our new Ask the Stem Cell Expert video series by interviewing UC San Diego’s Larry Goldstein about stem cell research and Alzheimer’s disease (see our video here and previous blog here). We posed questions to him that had been sent in by followers of our Facebook, twitter, and blog … Continue reading New Alzheimer’s Ask the Expert video: Of stem cells, iphones and a cellular black box

Arturo Alvarez-Buylla, Ph.D.An unexpected finding by a CIRM-funded team at UC San Francisco raises new hope that neurons grown from stem cells could be transplanted into patients’ brains and survive in sufficient numbers to help the patients.The team worked with a specific type of mouse neuron that helps control the cell-to-cell chatter that goes on … Continue reading CIRM-funded researchers restore “balance” to brains disrupted by epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons

Geoff Lomax is CIRM's Senior Officer to the Standards Working Group The commission that advises the President on bioethical issues recently issued a report titled Privacy and Progress in Whole Genome Sequencing. The report concludes “that to realize the enormous promise that whole genome sequencing holds for advancing clinical care and the greater public good, individual … Continue reading Privacy and progress in medical research: CIRM standards look forward

Keith CampbellThis week Keith Campbell, one of the scientists responsible for cloning Dolly the sheep, died at the age of 58. The New York Times ran an extensive obituary about his contribution to science. CIRM President Alan Trouson was a friend and scientific colleague of Campbell's. He wrote the following in celebration of his friend's … Continue reading CIRM president Alan Trounson remembers cloning pioneer Keith Campbell

Shinya Yamanaka, courtesy of CIRM science officer Arie Abo, who took the photo at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem cell ResearchIt’s not often you get to use the words “stem cell researchers” and “giddy” in the same sentence but that’s the only way to describe the mood at the Gladstone Institutes … Continue reading Yamanaka: “slow and clumsy” and other tales of his path to the Nobel

Shinya Yamanaka, courtesy of CIRM science officer Arie Abo, who took the photo at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem cell ResearchIt’s not often you get to use the words “stem cell researchers” and “giddy” in the same sentence but that’s the only way to describe the mood at the Gladstone Institutes … Continue reading Yamanaka: "slow and clumsy" and other tales of his path to the Nobel

A colony of iPS cells generated from skin (courtesy of Kathrin Plath, UCLA)Monday’s announcement that Shinya Yamanaka had won the Nobel prize for his discovery of how to turn adult cells into a type of stem cell that can form any other kind of cell in the body has focused attention on the potential of … Continue reading Nobel prize follow up: all types of stem cells needed in the search for therapies

Shinya YamanakaThis year’s Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine went to two stem cell pioneers: Shinya Yamanaka and John Gurdon. The two scientists showed that mature cells such as those of the skin or intestine can be coaxed back to an embryonic-like state and can then form all tissues of the body.According to the Nobel … Continue reading Stem cell pioneers Gurdon and Yamanaka win Nobel Prize

This morning’s news cycle has been filled with stories about the work of a Japanese team that created eggs from both embryonic mouse stem cells and mouse reprogrammed stem cells, iPS cells made from skin. My favorite headline came from the BBC “Skin Cells become Grandparents,” noting that the eggs were fertile producing offspring who … Continue reading Creating eggs from stem cells opens huge window onto mysteries of fertility

Sometimes one of the hardest things to do is to take a complex subject and tell it in simple, easy to understand terms without ‘dumbing it down’. It’s particularly true of science where concepts and language are often so dense you need a Thesaurus at your side just to understand what they are talking about. … Continue reading Fortune favors California’s stem cell agency