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.My report this month opens with a fascinating paper that finally provided definitive … Continue reading Guest blogger Alan Trounson — June’s stem cell research highlights

For the past two summers we've run a summer internship program to bring high school students from throughout California into stem cell labs. We call this our Creativity Awards because we also ask the students to carry out some research activity in addition to just their lab work with the idea that great ideas come … Continue reading Stem cell interns show their experiences through their own lens

Skeletal muscle courtesy of Wikimedia CommonsResearchers at Stanford University have made a start in understanding why muscles in younger people heal so quickly compared to muscles in older people. Understanding these differences could help scientists find ways of helping muscles in older people heal more quickly after injuries. In a study comparing muscle stem cells … Continue reading Young stem cells’ DNA has more genes switched to “on” position than geriatric ones

Skeletal muscle courtesy of Wikimedia CommonsResearchers at Stanford University have made a start in understanding why muscles in younger people heal so quickly compared to muscles in older people. Understanding these differences could help scientists find ways of helping muscles in older people heal more quickly after injuries. In a study comparing muscle stem cells … Continue reading Young stem cells’ DNA has more genes switched to "on" position than geriatric ones

Nature has a scary story about the impact of sequester on research labs. This paragraph sums up the situation:The NIH for example, faces a US$1.5-billion budget cut over fiscal year (FY) 2012–13, which it says will result in the funding of some 700 fewer competitive research projects and the admission of 750 fewer new patients … Continue reading Funding cuts hurting research labs

We'd like to welcome our journalism fellow Rina Shaikh-Lesko, who will be helping us out this summer writing about progress in the stem cell field. This is her inaugural blog entry. We’re about to kick off our first ever Google Hangout on July 3 at noon. Google’s foray into online video conferencing makes interacting with … Continue reading CIRM’s first Google Hangout to focus on ALS

One of the many things we are proud of at the stem cell agency is our Bridges to Stem Cell Research program. It's focused on helping aspiring scientists - students at the undergraduate and masters level - who are considering a career in research, giving them hands on experience in research labs. The ultimate goal … Continue reading A Bridge to a new career; building the next generation of researchers

Neurons forming from embryonic stem cells | Courtesy of Guoping Fan at the University of California, Los AngelesScientific American ran a piece in their blog yesterday that's both a great read about the brain's support cells and also a good explanation for why therapies for diseases of the brain progress slowly.The piece is about support … Continue reading Brain’s mysterious support cells underly some diseases

Here are some stem cell stories that caught our eye this past week. Some are groundbreaking science, others are of personal interest to us, and still others are just fun. Dr. Anthony Atala shows a kidney created using a 3D printer - Photo by Steve Jurveston  Progress in creating replacement organs. Malcolm Ritter from the Associated … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: replacement organs, gene therapy for HIV and NIH budget cuts

Here at the stem cell agency we consider California to be a global leader in stem cell research. But in this guest blog Michael Roberts at CASIS explains how his organization is literally out of this world when it comes to research                              … Continue reading Stem cells in space; doing research in microgravity