After opening sessions at the World Stem Cell Summit in which speakers talked about rapid progress toward moving stem cell therapies to the clinic, Michael West, CEO of BioTime offered a reminder that there are a lot of fundamental questions about stem cells that remain unanswered.He described the difficulty researchers often have even fully defining … Continue reading Mapping steps in the developing an embryo to speed stem cell research

For many years now we’ve been hearing about the potential of stem cells to treat diseases and disorders. So it was entirely appropriate that one of the opening sessions at the World Stem Cell Summit in San Diego focused on ways that stem cells are transforming medicine right now. This was very much a case … Continue reading How stem cells are transforming medicine

Jeffrey Bartlett of Calimmune discussed the company's CIRM-funded clinical trial testing a stem cell therapy for  HIV/AIDSFor many years we've been talking optimistically about stem cell therapies in the future. But last night we hosted a public forum as part of the World Stem Cell Summit in San Diego where we heard from several of … Continue reading Breakthroughs kick off the World Stem Cell Summit

Champions come in many different shapes and sizes and excel in many different arenas, from sports and the arts to human rights. But regardless of the arena they are in champions all have one thing in common, a desire to fight for something they truly believe in, and to keep fighting to overcome any obstacle … Continue reading How to become a Stem Cell Champion

We have a lot to be thankful for this year at CIRM, including clinical trials that have started recently testing therapies for HIV/AIDS and heart disease. We are also thankful for the passionate patient advocate community that has been so supportive of our work. We're taking an e-break for the holiday, returning with more stem … Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving from CIRM

Forbes has a good story today about a stem cell trial for ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) being carried out by Neuralstem. We don't fund that company, but we do fund a disease team award to Clive Svendson at Cedars-Sinai that is a sort of son-of-Neuralstem.The Neuralstem trial is starting with neural progenitor cells--cells that are … Continue reading Forbes takes a look at stem cell therapies for ALS

You know a new technology has permeated the consciousness of the population when high school students around the country are telling their teachers they want to learn about it. Today's students are asking to learn about stem cells, and we at CIRM have just the solution for teachers looking for tools: our high school stem … Continue reading High School students asking to learn about stem cells

Vision loss at the center of the field of vision caused by macular degenerationMacular degeneration is an irreversible form of blindness in which a person loses vision at the center of their field of view. It’s caused by progressive damage to the central retina, or macula. It’s the leading cause of blindness in Americans over … Continue reading Best of the blog: Progress in blindness research

Our grantees at the Parkinson's Institute have found new genes associated with Parkinson's disease. These will help the scientists understand the origins of the disease, develop drugs and also screen for people who are at risk.Until now, scientists knew only a small number of gene mutations that play a role in Parkinson's disease. These are … Continue reading CIRM grantees find new genes associated with Parkinson’s disease

Kidney bud created from human stem cells (in blue and green). Cells in red are mouse kidney cells. Courtesy of the Salk Institute for Biological StudiesOur grantees at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have used stem cells to create three dimensional kidney buds in a lab dish. These miniature structures aren't intended as replacement … Continue reading CIRM grantees at Salk create kidney buds from human stem cells