Human egg being nourished by a follicle. Image: Wellcome ImagesSometimes medical therapies arise in mysterious ways. Today, for example, one of our grantees at Stanford published a paper describing a new approach for treating some forms of infertility. So far one baby has been born using the technique.The thing is that what he'd set out … Continue reading CIRM-funded research leads to new treatment for forms of infertility, healthy child born

Dr. Rosa Canet-Aviles and Dr. Rahul Thakar talking about tissue engineering at the ExploratoriumThe Golden Gate Bridge, the Taj Mahal and the Empire State Building are all beautiful, elegant structures. In a way they are works of art. They are also engineering marvels, designs that pushed the limits and skills of those who designed and … Continue reading Not your father’s engineers – changing perceptions about engineering for a new generation

This post was originally published by the Canadian Stem Cell Network's Signals blog. Welcome to the official launch of the first StemCellShorts video: “What is a stem cell?” narrated by stem cell research great Dr. Jim Till. Join us again on October 11 and 25 for the online premieres of two more videos in the series.Anyone … Continue reading Introducing a new series of animated stem cell videos – StemCellShorts

Brain volume is reduced in people with Huntington's disease. Image: Frank Gaillard, Wikimedia commonsThe deadly neurodegenerative condition Huntington's disease occurs in people with a mutation in a gene called huntingtin. Scientists have known that since 1993.The question has been what to do about it. There is currently no therapy to slow or halt the inevitable … Continue reading Two CIRM grantees collaborate with novel technologies to halt Huntington’s

It's nice to see our sentiments expressed by someone as influential as Michael Moritz, a venture capital investor who previously supported successes like Google and PayPal. Like us, he thinks it's important to fund future scientists as well as the research itself.University of California, San Francisco just announced a $30 million gift from Moriz and … Continue reading Funding young scientists key to future therapies: investor creates endowment to support UCSF graduate students

Human chromosomes showing location of dystrophin gene. Credit: Wessex Reg. Genetics Centre. Wellcome ImagesThe New York Times has a detailed story today about an experimental therapy for the devastating childhood disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The Times story describes the effects of muscular dystrophy:Duchenne, which affects as many as 15,000 Americans, mainly boys, is the most … Continue reading Testing a therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy in patient stem cells

Robin Roth, co-chair of the San Francisco hepatitis C task forceThe winning team’s name at yesterday’s Bay Area American Liver Foundation fundraiser sort of said it all. Team Life Is Good raised more than $5,000 for the cause, while their moniker pointed to the yin and yang of emotions in the crowd.Liver disease, ranging from … Continue reading Incredible resilience on ample display at annual liver walk

Paul Knoepfler in his lab at UC Davis: Photo courtesy of UC Davis Medical CenterPaul Knoepfler’s life changed one October day in 2009. For years Paul had been going into the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center as a stem cell researcher. But this day he was about to cross over to the other side, as … Continue reading An Insider’s Guide to Stem Cells: new book looks at the good, the bad and the future of stem cell research