A six-day scientific mystery surrounding Harvard's stem cell institute was initially solved (or guessed at) yesterday by CIRM grantee and blogger at UC Davis Paul Knoepfler (here is his blog entry).This morning at 12pm Harvard time his prediction was proved right -- researchers at the institute had published a paper revealing a hormone that prods … Continue reading Harvard scientists discover hormone that could lead to type 2 diabetes therapy

CIRM's Senior Officer to the Standards Working Group, Geoff Lomax, is blogging this week from Montreal where his attending the Canadian Stem Cell Network's meeting "Understanding Stem Cell Controversies". The afternoon session on Day 2 at the Understanding Stem Cell Controversies workshop began picking apart the complex relationship between research and the public, specifically where … Continue reading Ask, Ask, Ask: The views of patients and the public should inform stem cell treatments and research

This image titled “Passion” shows young brain cells in orange and is part of an art show at UC Irvine tomorrowAt CIRM we have long taken advantage of the fact that researchers track stem cells by labeling them with various colors of florescent markers. When they snap pictures of the tiny cells the result is … Continue reading Photogenic stem cells on display at UC Irvine event @UCI

CIRM's Senior Officer to the Standards Working Group, Geoff Lomax, is blogging this week from Montreal where his attending the Canadian Stem Cell Network's meeting "Understanding Stem Cell Controversies". Harry Atkins discussion stem cell tourism at the Canadian Stem Cell Network's meeting "Understanding Stem Cell Controversies"“Stem cell tourism” “medical tourism” “unproven cell therapies” – the … Continue reading Stem cell tourism, safe, effective & routine? Not so much

These iPS cells can form any cell in the body (image by Kathrin Plath, UCLA)The good: Both embryonic stem cells and adult cells reprogrammed to an embryonic-like state (iPS cells) can form all types of tissues in the body. Scientists around the world are pushing those cells to form skin, tissues of the eye, insulin-producing … Continue reading Weeding out the bad cells from the good in stem cell therapies

CIRM's Senior Officer to the Standards Working Group, Geoff Lomax, is blogging this week from Montreal where his attending the Canadian Stem Cell Network's meeting "Understanding Stem Cell Controversies". The Stem Cell Network (SCN) is kicking off its second offering of the Understanding Stem Cell Controversies Workshop. One goal of the workshop is to understand … Continue reading Regulatory & ethical issues in creating a stem cell bank @stemcellnetwork

Brain precursor cells directly reprogrammed from blood-forming stem cells. (Image courtesy of the Lerner lab, The Scripps Research Institute.)We've been writing a lot recently about the whiz-bang new field of directly reprogramming the body's cells (see here and here). Cells long-thought to be restricted to forming just a few cells types are now being prodded … Continue reading From bone marrow to brain: stem cell conversion opens doors for new therapies

Basic science doesn't have the cache of disease-focused research. It's hard to write catchy headlines about impending disease therapies, for example, when the researchers are just trying to understand how cells work. But, as Barry Starr explains in a blog entry for the science program KQED Quest, it's important stuff. Starr is the Geneticist-in-Residence at … Continue reading Basic research is good for your health

I recently wrote about a surprising discovery from Thea Tlsty's lab at UCSF. She's a CIRM grantee who found a group of cells in breast tissue that have the ability to form all types of tissues in the body. This finding defied the conventional wisdom that only cells from the 4-5 day old embryo, which … Continue reading A little white board magic explains the newly discovered flexible stem cells found in breast tissue

Axolotl | By Orizatriz (Own work) via Wikimedia CommonsTonight, the movie Errors of the Human Body by director Eron Sheean opens in select theaters, featuring if not stem cells exactly, then at least regenerative properties that can be attributed to stem cells.Those regenerative properties are transferred in the movie from an axolotl, which look like … Continue reading Stem cells make the big screen in “Errors of the Human Body”