The online life sciences news site Mendelspod recently interviewed our grantee Lawrence Goldstein from the University of California, San Diego about his stem cell research into Alzheimer's disease and ALS (Lou Gehrhig's disease). Having interviewed Goldstein a number of times myself, it's not a surprise to me that he ended up having things to say … Continue reading Lawrence Goldstein discusses Alzheimer’s & ALS research, need for more funding

This is a case of a rising tide lifting at least a few extra boats. It turns out a successful heart disease project we fund at Cedars-Sinai might also benefit kids with muscular dystrophy. Eduardo Marban has been working on a disease team project to develop a way of using the heart's own stem cells … Continue reading Stem cell project for heart disease might help those with muscular dystrophy

Each month CIRM President Alan Trounson gives his perspective on recently published papers he thinks will be valuable in moving the field of stem cell research forward. This month’s report, along with an archive of past reports, is available on the CIRM website.My report this month opens with a journal article that earns that rarely … Continue reading Alan Trounson: embryonic stem cells from cloned embryos could improve iPS cells

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.Role of blood vessels in diabetes. I have been a skeptic of the few reports that have come out suggesting mesenchymal stem cells, the second type … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: diabetes, Down Syndrome and the long road to gene therapy

Early this year our Governing Board approved funding for nine awards to create a stem cell bank to be located at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging just north of San Francisco (here's our press release). The San Francisco Chronicle’s Erin Allday recently wrote about the bank, which will eventually contain 9,000 stem cell … Continue reading California stem cell bank will save time, speed research

The axolotl's ability to regrow limbs make it widely studied by scientists hoping to understand regeneration and perhaps mimic the process for healing injuries in people. (Photo: wikimedia commons)Yes, it’s true; the axolotl is an oddly adorable salamander but it is its ability to regrow complex structures like the legs, tail, retina and spinal cord … Continue reading Does the immune system hold the key to re-growing limbs? Ask the axolotl

Blurring at the center of vision in macular degenerationThe very first time a potential therapy gets tested in people it’s part of what’s called a phase 1 trial, which is very small and is mostly just testing to make sure the drug, cells or device are even safe. Until the start of a trial the … Continue reading Early phase stem cell trials show promise in stroke and blindness

Image from the NIHNature ran a great profile of our grantee Karl Deisseroth, who has a New Faculty Award to develop ways of controlling neurons derived from stem cells. He's the Stanford bioengineer who recently made such a splash with his see-through brain (that's the technology on display in this most awesome video ever). Deisseroth's … Continue reading Karl Deisseroth profile: using light to control neurons, understand brain diseases

CIRM President Alan TrounsonPatt Morrison of the L.A. Times had a wide-ranging conversation with CIRM President Alan Trounson, which appears in today's paper. The conversation included cell lines generated from cloning, personal attacks during his work developing IVF technology and conflicts of interest, among other topics.One of the things they discussed was the alpha clinic … Continue reading Alan Trounson on stem cell progress, new clinics and the pace of research

A three-dimensional, reconstructed magnetic resonance image (upper) shows a cavity caused by a spinal injury nearly filled with grafted neural stem cells, colored green. The lower image depicts neuronal outgrowth from transplanted human neurons (green) and development of putative contacts (yellow dots) with host neurons (blue). CIRM grantees at University of California, San Diego have … Continue reading CIRM grantees at UCSD use stem cell injections to improve spinal cord injuries in rats