Human mesenchymal stem cells being grown on a scaffold as a way of repairing bone. University of Cambridge on FlickrAmong the many injustices of aging: just as our tissues start falling apart, so to, our stem cells stop functioning as well to alleviate the damage. It just isn't fair.Muscle stem cells don't respond as well … Continue reading Stem cells taken from fat grow less effective with age

Several of our grantees are working on projects that involve destroying the stem cells at the heart of cancer. These cancer stem cells are a bit of a mind-bender: We're used to thinking of stem cells as a good thing -- they regenerate damaged tissues in our bodies. But cancer stem cells constantly regenerate the … Continue reading New tool for destroying cells at the heart of cancer

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. Renee Reijo-Pera and Bertha ChenStem Cells for urinary incontinence. Fellow stem cell blogger, Don Reed, wrote a nice piece for the Huffington Post on some very … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: Lou Gherig’s disease, incontinence, evolution and questionable therapies

This post was originally published by the Canadian Stem Cell Network's Signals blog. Canada is home to numerous stem cell discoveries and StemCellShorts is an excellent medium through which we can convey these accomplishments to Canadians and others worldwide.  The ‘shorts’ are innovative, educational and entertaining”.  – Dr. Mick Bhatia, Director and Senior Scientist at the McMaster … Continue reading Great new stem cell video from Ben Paylor: What are iPS cells?

Bruce Wisnicki spoke to our governing board about living with Parkinson's disease and his hope for a cure. You’d think Parkinson’s disease would be a slam-dunk for a stem cell-based therapy. The disease occurs when a particular group of cells in the brain die off. The idea would be to mature stem cells into that … Continue reading Parkinson’s disease workshop gives guidance to those developing therapies

screenshot from CIRM's education web portal with the new NGSS stem cell curriculumAround 4:00 on September 4 the California Board of Education voted unanimously to accept the Next Generation Science Standards set by a national coalition. Five weeks later, around noon on October 10 we posted two new units to our stem cell high school … Continue reading CIRM’s high school stem cell curriculum now reflects the new Next Generation Science Standards that ask students to ask questions

I’m going to date myself here but it’s been nearly 30 years since I first heard that 80’s tune, “The future’s so bright I have to wear shades”. Those catchy lyrics still ring true today, maybe not for bipartisan politics, but at least for the future of stem cell research.My rosy outlook is based not … Continue reading The stem cell future’s so bright, I have to wear shades

Geoff Lomax, CIRM's Senior Officer for Medical & Ethical Standards, is blogging from this week's 2013 Till & McCulloch Meeting in Alberta. The meetings are Canada’s premier stem cell research event and provide networking with leading stem cell scientists, clinicians, bioengineers and ethicists from Canada and around the world. Ubaka Ogboug is a policy researcher … Continue reading The Coolest Stem Cell Poster

Despite decades of scientific progress, cancer remains the second most common cause of death in the United States, accounting for a quarter of all deaths. On this blog, we’ve written many times about how our grantees are progressing toward cancer treatment, but we wanted to pull the best of those posts into one place. Here … Continue reading Best of the blog: Progress in cancer research

Here's a major stumbling block in developing therapies for human diseases -- it's hard to find a fix if you don't really know what's wrong. Take autism spectrum disorders. By now doctors are pretty good at identifying signs of the disease, but without access to brain cells researchers don't really know what's going wrong.That's the … Continue reading Autism syndrome modeled in lab dish points to future therapy