It seems like an oxymoron but one in ten Americans has a rare disease. With more than 7,000 known rare diseases it’s easy to see how each one could affect thousands of individuals and still be considered a rare or orphan condition. Only 5% of rare diseases have FDA approved therapies People with rare … Continue reading Rare disease underdogs come out on top at CIRM Board meeting
Month: March 2016
Five Cool Stem Cell Technologies to Tell Your Friends
As a former stem cell scientist turned science communicator, I love answering science questions no matter how complicated or bizarre. The other day my friend asked me about what CRISPR was and how scientists were using it on stem cells to help people. This got me thinking that it would be cool to do a … Continue reading Five Cool Stem Cell Technologies to Tell Your Friends
Taking Steps Toward Personalized Heart Transplants
Over five million Americans have heart failure (HF), a condition in which the heart muscles become too weak to pump an adequate amount of blood, oxygen and nutrients to the body’s other organs. People with heart failure suffer from shortness of breath, chronic weakness and a fifty percent chance of dying within the first five … Continue reading Taking Steps Toward Personalized Heart Transplants
CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinics: Paving a Path to Cures
Our mission at CIRM is to accelerate stem cell treatments to patients with unmet medical needs. Over the past ten years, our agency has been tasked with carefully distributing $3 billion dollars of California state tax payer money to the best and brightest scientists in California (and outside too, providing they meet certain requirements). These … Continue reading CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinics: Paving a Path to Cures
In the Stem Cellar: restoring vision, a visionary on mini-organs and restoring circulation to limbs
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. Eyes owned the web this week. When your work includes any form of electronic communication, you worry about how many eyes see a page of … Continue reading In the Stem Cellar: restoring vision, a visionary on mini-organs and restoring circulation to limbs
Ways to genetically alter stem cells just keep getting better
For science wonks the gene editing technique CRISPR appears in your email, Twitter feed, or journal reading daily, if not hourly. The incredibly easy and inexpensive way to edit the genes in cells has exploded in the past couple years and is increasingly being used to edit stem cells in the lab to study specific … Continue reading Ways to genetically alter stem cells just keep getting better
Recurring miscarriages can be due to a stem cell problem, UK research team finds
For women and their partners who are trying to conceive, seeing those two lines appear on a positive pregnancy test is a surreal thrill. But for 15 to 25% of known pregnancies, that initial excitement ends in disappointment due to miscarriage, a spontaneous loss of the fetus typically within the first 20 weeks. Even worse, … Continue reading Recurring miscarriages can be due to a stem cell problem, UK research team finds
New stem cell could offer new ways to study birth defects
You never know what you are going to find in the trash. For a group of intrepid researchers at Michigan State University their discovery could lead to new ways of studying birth defects and other reproductive problems. Because what they found in what’s normally considered cellular trash was a new kind of stem cell. The … Continue reading New stem cell could offer new ways to study birth defects
Unlocking the brain’s secrets: scientists find over 100 unique mutations in brain cells
Your brain is made up of approximately 100 billion neurons. These are the cells that process information and pass along electrical and chemical signals to their other neuron buddies throughout the body to coordinate thoughts, movement, and many other functions. It’s no small task to create the intricate neuronal network that is the backbone of … Continue reading Unlocking the brain’s secrets: scientists find over 100 unique mutations in brain cells
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: Kidney stem cells, high fat diets, breast cancer and sore joints
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. Young source of kidney stem cells. Some of our organs, like our liver and gut have massive armies of stem cells that can replace and … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: Kidney stem cells, high fat diets, breast cancer and sore joints
The Stem Cellar 