Irish stem cell scientists may be wearing a gloomy shade of green this year on St. Patrick's Day. February elections brought to power the Fine Gael party, which opposes human embryonic stem cell research.The country's scientists had been working without clear stem cell guidance when the previous government — which had been supportive of biomedical … Continue reading Not-so-happy St. Patrick’s day for Irish stem cell scientists

We've posted quite a bit about the Geron trial testing an embryonic stem cell-derived therapy for spinal cord injury. Now Palo Alto-based StemCells Inc has started a trial in Switzerland testing a tissue-specific stem cell therapy. The company announced that they'll be enrolling 12 people who have no feeling below their injury in this initial … Continue reading A second stem cell trial for spinal cord injury

This week marks Brain Awareness Week, with events worldwide to bring people up to speed on brain research. I went to the cool search tool on the Dana Foundation web site and found that several CIRM grantees are hosting events this week. That makes sense, given that roughly a quarter of our funding goes to … Continue reading Stem cell progress on brain awareness week

CIRM grantee Paul Knoepfler, who is assistant professor at UC Davis, had an editorial in the Saturday Sacramento Bee making the case for stem cell research as a national security priority. Knoepler has blogged about this issue in the past, as congress has looked to cut research funding as part of budget negotiations.Knoepfler argues:“As Congress … Continue reading Stem cell research a national security issue

Much has been written over the past few days about a spate of new papers by CIRM grantees showing significant differences between reprogrammed iPS cells and embryonic stem cells (see the San Diego Union Tribune,  Discover, Technology Review) and CIRM grantee Paul Knoepfler at UC Davis had an insightful blog entry on the topic. What's … Continue reading More questions raised about iPS cells safety

CIRM grantees at Stanford University and The Parkinson's Institute have an exciting Cell Stem Cell paper out today showing that they can mimic Parkinson's disease in a lab dish using reprogrammed iPS cells.The team, which includes Renee Reijo Pera and Theo Palmer and their lab members at Stanford and William Langston at the Parkinson's Institute, … Continue reading Parkinson’s disease modeled for the first time in a lab dish

CIRM's Senior Officer to the Standards Working Group, Geoff Lomax, is blogging this week from Calgary where his attending the Canadian Stem Cell Network's meeting "Stem Cell Controversies".   The Stem Cell Network meeting Understanding Stem Cell Controversies is refreshing for its focus on clinical trials and efforts to get basic stem cell research to patients. … Continue reading Notes from Calgary: Stem cell hype and medical tourism

CIRM's Senior Officer to the Standards Working Group, Geoff Lomax, will be blogging this week from Calgary where his attending the Canadian Stem Cell Network's meeting "Stem Cell Controversies".  Today kicks off the Canadian Stem Cell Network’s intensive three-day course titled Understanding Stem Cell Controversies. The focus is on emerging ethical and policy issues as … Continue reading Understanding Stem Cell Controversies — Texas Hold’em Anyone?

At the 18th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston, two members of CIRM’s HIV/AIDS Disease Team led by John Zaia at City of Hope presented new research showing the team’s progress toward the clinic.The team’s overall goal is to use technology developed by Sangamo Biosciences to modify the blood-forming stem cells of … Continue reading Guest blogger Jeff Sheehy – CIRM Grantees Show Progress Towards a “Cure for HIV” in Boston

Normal aging takes many decades to create major changes in our cells, so it is very difficult to study. As a result, very little is known about this fundamental inevitability of life. But that may change with the help of an unfortunate child, who by the bad luck of a single point mutation developed a … Continue reading Disease in a dish model provides insight on aging