The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) held its third annual “State of the Industry” briefing this morning at the Biotech Showcase that occurs every January in San Francisco. These events bring together the leadership of companies seeking to develop new therapies with the investors needed to fund their work and can be tense affairs. The … Continue reading Industry leaders predict a great year for regenerative medicine

The legal case that would have halted the ability of the NIH to fund embryonic stem cell research finally came to a close today when the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The story began in August, 2010, when federal judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research impermissible … Continue reading Supreme Court won’t hear stem cell case: funding can continue

If you were diagnosed with a life-threatening or life-impairing disease and told there was no proven therapy that could help you, wouldn’t you think about turning to an unproven therapy? That’s the dilemma facing many patients with diseases ranging from multiple sclerosis to arthritis, and many are turning to unproven and unregulated stem cell therapies … Continue reading Hope, fear, money and the regulation of stem cell therapies

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.The full report this month includes two projects that created new cell lines. … Continue reading Alan Trounson discusses improved way of studying Fragile X syndrome

We're starting 2013 with a blog entry from Katie Jackson about the UC Davis Huntington Disease Team recently funded by CIRM. My name is Katie Jackson and seven years ago I had the perfect life. I married the love of my life. We had two beautiful children a little boy and little girl. We both … Continue reading A patient’s story of hope for a Huntington’s disease therapy

A consortium of researchers around the U.S. used transplanted neural stem cells (shown here) to treat a mouse model of ALS.CIRM grantees at Sanford-Burnham were part of a consortium that found transplanted neural stem cells slows the progress of a form of Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS) in mice. It’s still too … Continue reading Neural stem cells show signs of treating ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in mice

This is the time of year when everybody is posting their year end best-of list. Not wanting to be left out, I went through to find our top blog entries of the year. What I learned is that readers are eager to know about progress toward therapies, which makes perfect sense. As an agency, we … Continue reading Most popular stem cell stories of 2012: diabetes, spinal cord injury, and what the future holds

Earlier this year CIRM grantee and stem cell blogger Paul Knoepfler requested nominations for his stem cell person of the year competition. In a video that accompanies his request, Knoepfler says he was hoping to honor someone other than the usual stodgy scientists—people who have gone out of their way to propel the field through … Continue reading Stem cell who’s who: 2012 Person of the Year

Dr. Stanley NelsonCIRM grantees at UCLA published a paper last week showing that a drug that’s currently being tested for other uses might also be effective in treating people with muscular dystrophy. The group got a $6 million Early Translational award from CIRM to turn this research into a clinical trial for the disease (here's … Continue reading Old drug finds new life treating muscular dystrophy

Image: Credit: Nissim Benvenisty, via Wikimedia CommonsWe’ve written quite a bit about the dangers of stem cell tourism and about unregulated treatments in the U.S. The concern is that people are paying large amounts of money to receive injections of cells that haven’t been tested for safety. Scientific American recently published a story that’s receiving … Continue reading Has that stem cell treatment been tested? Better check before paying