CIRM's Senior Officer to the Standards Working Group, Geoff Lomax, is blogging this week from Montreal where his attending the Canadian Stem Cell Network's meeting "Understanding Stem Cell Controversies". Harry Atkins discussion stem cell tourism at the Canadian Stem Cell Network's meeting "Understanding Stem Cell Controversies"“Stem cell tourism” “medical tourism” “unproven cell therapies” – the … Continue reading Stem cell tourism, safe, effective & routine? Not so much

These iPS cells can form any cell in the body (image by Kathrin Plath, UCLA)The good: Both embryonic stem cells and adult cells reprogrammed to an embryonic-like state (iPS cells) can form all types of tissues in the body. Scientists around the world are pushing those cells to form skin, tissues of the eye, insulin-producing … Continue reading Weeding out the bad cells from the good in stem cell therapies

CIRM's Senior Officer to the Standards Working Group, Geoff Lomax, is blogging this week from Montreal where his attending the Canadian Stem Cell Network's meeting "Understanding Stem Cell Controversies". The Stem Cell Network (SCN) is kicking off its second offering of the Understanding Stem Cell Controversies Workshop. One goal of the workshop is to understand … Continue reading Regulatory & ethical issues in creating a stem cell bank @stemcellnetwork

Brain precursor cells directly reprogrammed from blood-forming stem cells. (Image courtesy of the Lerner lab, The Scripps Research Institute.)We've been writing a lot recently about the whiz-bang new field of directly reprogramming the body's cells (see here and here). Cells long-thought to be restricted to forming just a few cells types are now being prodded … Continue reading From bone marrow to brain: stem cell conversion opens doors for new therapies

Basic science doesn't have the cache of disease-focused research. It's hard to write catchy headlines about impending disease therapies, for example, when the researchers are just trying to understand how cells work. But, as Barry Starr explains in a blog entry for the science program KQED Quest, it's important stuff. Starr is the Geneticist-in-Residence at … Continue reading Basic research is good for your health

I recently wrote about a surprising discovery from Thea Tlsty's lab at UCSF. She's a CIRM grantee who found a group of cells in breast tissue that have the ability to form all types of tissues in the body. This finding defied the conventional wisdom that only cells from the 4-5 day old embryo, which … Continue reading A little white board magic explains the newly discovered flexible stem cells found in breast tissue

Axolotl | By Orizatriz (Own work) via Wikimedia CommonsTonight, the movie Errors of the Human Body by director Eron Sheean opens in select theaters, featuring if not stem cells exactly, then at least regenerative properties that can be attributed to stem cells.Those regenerative properties are transferred in the movie from an axolotl, which look like … Continue reading Stem cells make the big screen in "Errors of the Human Body"

Axolotl | By Orizatriz (Own work) via Wikimedia CommonsTonight, the movie Errors of the Human Body by director Eron Sheean opens in select theaters, featuring if not stem cells exactly, then at least regenerative properties that can be attributed to stem cells.Those regenerative properties are transferred in the movie from an axolotl, which look like … Continue reading Stem cells make the big screen in “Errors of the Human Body”

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. Lab grown kidney works. Given events in Boston this week, it seems fitting to start with a story about work by my old colleagues at Massachusetts … Continue reading Stem cell Stories that caught our eye: arthritis therapy, replacement kidneys and trachea transplants

Image courtesy of bottled_voidOK, so the news still isn't good for those of us living with constant, grinding stress of work, kids and household responsibilities. Such stress can cause the body to release hormones responsible for heart disease and depression, and squelches the production of new neurons in the brain, impairing memory.But new research out … Continue reading Stressed out? Fear not: small doses might be good for your stem cells