Readers of this blog are frequently reminded that not all stem cells are created equal. This post is a bit wonky but it seems important to take note of an international effort to add rigor to defining one type of stem cell, the mesenchymal stem cell (MSC).Clinical trials testing MSCs make up the majority of … Continue reading Stricter standards for telling stem cells apart

Back on July 9th, we announced in a press release and blog that Calimmune Inc. had treated the first patient in a CIRM-funded clinical trial involving the use of an innovative gene-based stem cell therapy to help protect individuals infected with HIV from the effects of the AIDS virus. Louis Breton and Geoff Symonds, Calimmune’s … Continue reading New Video: Calimmune Begins CIRM-Funded Stem Cell-Based HIV/AIDS Clinical Trial

More than 250,000 people are admitted to the hospital each year for hip fractureLast week we wrote about Stanford stem cell scientist Jill Helms and her advice for our undergraduate and masters level Bridges trainees. In that talk she mentioned an unanticipated but successful career switch to the field of bone healing.That career switch resulted … Continue reading Quicker healing for older bones

More than 150 newly minted stem cell scientists participating in the agency's Bridges to Stem Cell Research program converged on San Francisco last week to share the fruits of their research labors. My colleague Kevin McCormack wrote earlier about Jill Helms, who sponsors Bridges trainees in her lab at Stanford, and her inspiring talk on … Continue reading Bridges trainees showcase their internship research projects

It’s never easy launching a career, regardless of your chosen profession, so when you get a high school report card that basically says you are rubbish at science you could be forgiven for thinking you should try another line of work.But Dr. Jill Helms, a professor in the Department of Surgery at Stanford University, told … Continue reading Bridging the gap between failure and success – some inspiring words on life

Jonathan Thomas is Chair of the CIRM Governing BoardPhotos courtesy Steve Cohn Photography Last Friday, I and a number of my colleagues from the stem cell agency had the privilege of attending a wonderful event at USC honoring a summer internship program for local high school students in the USC Stem Cell labs. A number … Continue reading Celebrating Creativity – a new generation of scientists shines

People with Down's syndrome have an additional copy of chromosome 21. Image from U.S. Department of Energy Human Genome ProgramSpoiler alert: The research reported here is not funded by CIRM and is far, far from being ready to test in people. But for those of us who clearly remember a day when reprogrammed stem cells … Continue reading Scientists inactivate extra chromosome in stem cells from people with Down’s syndrome

Bradley Fikes at the San Diego Union Tribune wrote a blog entry yesterday about a talk in which CIRM grantee Larry Goldstein argued that California should fund its own science and technology research. Goldstein is director of UCSD's stem cell program, and has CIRM grants to develop stem cell therapies for ALS and Alzheimer's disease.Fikes … Continue reading Larry Goldstein: San Diego an example of research collaboration

Email is an amazing tool. It is fast, it is simple, you can send it from virtually anywhere and it can be used for so many different ways of communicating. But as good as email is, sometimes it’s just no substitute for an old fashioned face-to-face get-together. That’s why on July 15th we held a … Continue reading The mafia is wrong – for us it’s not business, it’s personal