Writing a blog can be a labor of love. Though some days it feels more like labor and less like love. So that’s why it’s nice to hear that not only do people read you, but that they also like you. Particularly when those people include someone like Paul Knoepfler, a stem cell researcher at … Continue reading Ranking the blogs – quantifying the value of reaching out

3D illustration of a cancer cellAn international team lead by Denis Slamon at the University of California, Los Angeles and Tak Mak at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center in Toronto announced today that they had filed all the paper work necessary with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin a clinical trial in … Continue reading Clinical trial to thwart cancer stem cells may begin soon

Cynthia Schaffer and Neil Littman support CIRM's business development efforts. CIRM is hosting a webinar on June 20th to help those developing cell-based therapies get ahead of reimbursement issues. We have often heard the phrase, “begin with the end in mind”. None of us want to be part of the team that develops an amazing, … Continue reading CIRM Webinar: Why planning your payment strategy is critical in early product development

Shinya Yamanaka (L) presents Marius Wernig (R) with the ISSCR 2013 Outstanding Young Investigator AwardStanford University stem cell researcher Marius Wernig, MD, PhD, was awarded the Outstanding Young Investigator Award at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) on Saturday. The award recognizes the exceptional achievements of a stem cell … Continue reading Young Investigator award makes it a three-peat for stem cell agency

Motor neuron progenitors (green) derived from human embryonic stem cells. Death of motor neurons is a hallmark of ALS. Image: Sharyn Rossi, Hans Keirstead Lab at the University of California, IrvineOver the past few months a fair amount of data has come out about the first trials using stem cells to treat ALS, also known … Continue reading ISSCR: Getting new cells where you want them can be major undertaking

Heart muscle precursors derived from embryonic stem cells. (Image courtesy of Bruce Conklin at The Gladstone Institutes)Models are important in helping develop and test new ideas and new approaches. But they’re not always perfect. For example a 6’ 2” rail-thin model strutting the catwalk in Milan is not an ideal representation of the average woman … Continue reading ISSCR: Searching for a new model for rebuilding the heart after a heart attack

One of the more intriguing signs around the vast Boston conference center at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) is a large chalkboard that poses the question: “What if you could solve some of life’s greatest challenges using stem cells?” It then asks people to list their stem cell … Continue reading ISSCR: How a piece of chalk, and a few stem cells, could help solve life’s greatest challenges

In gene therapy, modified viruses are used to insert corrected genes into patients' cellsAnyone who has followed the long twisted road of developing gene therapy knows the story of the big oops that happened with the first large trial in Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID). This fatal disease is sometimes called “bubble boy” disease referring … Continue reading ISSCR: Gene therapy shows power of going back to the bench after being at the bedside

Jeanne LoringOn Thursday the U.S. Supreme Court handed down what many are calling a landmark ruling, ruling unanimously that human genes cannot be patented. Experts are calling it a ruling that will change the course of scientific research and medical testing, and one of our stem cell agency grantees was a part of the story. Jeanne … Continue reading My genomics field trip

iPS cells reprogrammed from human skin. These cells are being used for "disease in a dish" studies to unlock the causes and eventually treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's and heart disease. (image: lab of Kathrin Plath, UCLA)With Nobel prize winning stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka heading the bill at the annual meeting of the … Continue reading ISSCR: America’s next top model – disease model that is