Last year our grantee at Stanford University, Marius Wernig, figured out how to turn human skin cells directly into a type of nerve cell. That was big news at the time. Until then, the process of going from skin to nerves required creating an intermediate stem cell (the Nobel prize-winning iPS cells), which slows the … Continue reading Presto chango: skin cells converted into cells that could treat MS and other conditions

Disease in a dish, iPS, induced pluripotent cells, differentiation, Yamanaka factors, embryonic vs adult stem cells. Do you grapple with clearly understanding this stem cell jargon? Or maybe you’re a stem cell scientist who struggles to explain it? Well, then the animated video Drawn to Science: Stem Cells in Research is a must see for … Continue reading Are you jumbled up by stem cell jargon? This two minute animation is your new best friend.

Alexander RamosFile this research under “Clever uses for household junk.” In this case, that junk is in your DNA and the clever use is in building brain tissue.Our DNA contains long stretches of stuff that, because it didn’t immediately have a use, was originally classified as “junk”. This so-called junk DNA was thought to just … Continue reading Clever use for cellular junk: building the brain

Many folks in science toss around the term interdisciplinary pretty freely. But few put it into action as thoroughly as the organizers of the World Stem Cell Summit. This multi-track event will be coming to San Diego December 4-6. The official announcement is here.Now in its ninth year, the Summit has matured into a truly … Continue reading The stem cell conference designed for everyone is returning to California

Image courtesty of DBFansiteEvery week millions of people tune in to ‘American Idol’ to watch singers who have three minutes to impress Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey and the gang, and demonstrate that they have the talent to be a star. It’s tough, testing the performer’s ability to perform well in public, under pressure and still … Continue reading Move over J.Lo and Simon Cowell, scientists are the new American Idols

Diving and swooping through the neurons of an actual brain makes for what might be the most awesome video ever, created by Nature as part of their story on work by our grantees at Stanford University. Karl Deisseroth, whose work this is, has managed to preserve the intricate, intertwining mesh of connections in the brain … Continue reading Most awesome video ever dives and swoops through the structures of an actual brain

Students in the new stem cell research course at SFSU (photo from SFSU)Our friends at San Francisco State University have started a course that I wish every person could take: they are introducing non-science majors to the science and politics of stem cell biology. I love the idea of having non-scientists learn more about issues … Continue reading Non-science majors learning about stem cell research at San Francisco State @SFState_News

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.One of the stories that caught our eye this week has to do with finding therapies for kids with untreatable blood diseasesThere are many reasons for … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye this week: appetite, hurdles to therapies, scientist biographies and more

By Smithsonian Institution from United States, via Wikimedia CommonsA thank you to my colleagues at Stanford University who pointed out an excellent—and cleverly named—science blog: Grandma got STEM. In this case STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics rather than stem cells, but still.The blog’s origin story causes me to cringe a bit. The founders … Continue reading Grannies in the lab: Blog showcases influential women in science

Clive Svendsen gives Stephen Hawking a tour of his Cedars-Sinai lab. (Photo: Cedars-Sinai, Eric Reed) Stephen Hawking’s most famous work involves black holes in the universe, but it became clear this morning that when he appears anywhere to speak, it is the opposite of a black hole. He visited the lab of a CIRM-funded team … Continue reading Physicist Hawking visits CIRM-funded lab working on ALS therapy