Katie Jackson My husband just enrolled in his fourth clinical trial. It's part of the CIRM-funded UC Davis HD Pre-Cell trial. So far, the experience of being a part of this historical trial has been wonderful and over the coming months I will be chronicling our journey. I hope that through these chronicles the fears … Continue reading Katie’s Chronicles: Clinical trial for Huntington’s disease

Most people think of Board meetings as rather dry affairs. That’s certainly not the case with our governing Board, the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, particularly when they are awarding more than $61 million in funding for diseases that have a devastating impact on people, and when some of those people are in the room to … Continue reading New Disease Team Awards drive therapies for cancers, vision loss, and sickle cell disease

This post originally appeared 12/06/13 on the Canadian Stem Cell Network's Signals blog. To be, or not to be, that is the question:Whether ’tis Nobler in the mind to sufferThe Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,And by opposing end themWe know this famous soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, … Continue reading A Californian approach to working with patient advocates

Last week at the World Stem Cell Summit we asked attendees to let us know why they are stem cell champions.Sherry Hikita runs the CIRM-funded UC Santa Barbara stem cell laboratory and is part of a team working on a therapy for blindnessOur booth was overrun by scientists and patient advocates telling their stories, and … Continue reading Stem Cell Champions tell their stories

Cancers are difficult to kill completely. Even after tumors seem eradicated, they can come back months or years later. In fact, tumors are like zombies, noted CIRM grantee Robert Wechsler-Reya at the recent World Stem Cell Summit.“Zombies have this incredible tendency to just come back to life,” said Wechsler-Reya, who leads the Tumor Development Program … Continue reading Of zombies, hedgehogs, and stem cell-based cancer therapies

There is never a week that goes by when we at CIRM don’t get asked by someone battling a deadly disease if they should go to a clinic, usually overseas, for a stem cell therapy. It’s hard to just bluntly say “no” to someone who is running out of options and running out of time. … Continue reading Questions to ask before deciding to get a stem cell therapy

From left to right: Alex Richmond, Don Reed, Judy RobersonThere’s an old Bob Marley song (well, let’s face it, he died in 1981 so there aren’t going to be any new ones) that has a chorus that goes: “Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, don’t give up the … Continue reading How Hamlet and Bob Marley inspire patient advocates

Ben Paylor originally posted this entry about cardiac regenerative medicine results being discussed at the World Stem Cell Summit on the Canadian Stem Cell Network's Signals blog.Just over two years ago I wrote about early reports from Dr. Roberto Bolli et al.’s SCIPIO trial running out of the University of Louisville in collaboration with the … Continue reading A cardiac regenerative medicine update from the World Stem Cell Summit

Human liverDavid Gobel of the Methuselah Foundation took the stage at the World Stem Cell Summit this morning to announce a new challenge prize offering $1 million to the first team that can build a liver that when transplanted into animals allows at least half of the four-legged patients to live for 90 days. But … Continue reading $1 million offered to first team to create a functional liver

“Revolutionizing medicine” is a phrase you often hear when scientists and advocates describe the promise of stem cells to treat many incurable diseases. But to truly fulfill that promise, the field of stem cell biology itself relies on revolutions in technologies that help scientists get a deeper understanding of stem cells. One such technology is … Continue reading Single Cell Genomics and Stem Cells: Revolutions within Revolutions