For people battling Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a rare and fatal genetic disorder that slowly destroys muscles, hope has often been in short supply. There is no cure and treatments are limited. But now a new clinical trial at the site of one of the newest CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinic Network members could change … Continue reading New CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinic offers HOPE for boys with deadly disease
Author: Kevin McCormack
Therapies Targeting Cancer, Deadly Immune Disorder and Life-Threatening Blood Condition Get Almost $32 Million Boost from CIRM Board
An innovative therapy that uses a patient’s own immune system to attack cancer stem cells is one of three new clinical trials approved for funding by CIRM's Governing Board. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine were awarded $11.9 million to test their Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T Cell Therapy in patients with B … Continue reading Therapies Targeting Cancer, Deadly Immune Disorder and Life-Threatening Blood Condition Get Almost $32 Million Boost from CIRM Board
CIRM President/CEO Presenting at Vatican Conference Targeting Cures for Deadly Diseases
It’s not often you get invited to a meeting of some of the leading scientists, ethicists, philosophers and faith leaders in the world so when the call comes in it’s an easy one to answer. Particularly when the call is from the Vatican. Maria T. Millan, MD, President and CEO of the California Institute for … Continue reading CIRM President/CEO Presenting at Vatican Conference Targeting Cures for Deadly Diseases
Patients at the heart of Alpha Stem Cell Clinics Symposium
I have been to a lot of stem cell conferences over the years and there’s one recent trend I really like: the growing importance and frequency of the role played by patient advocates. There was a time, not so long ago, when having a patient advocate speak at a scientific conference was almost considered a … Continue reading Patients at the heart of Alpha Stem Cell Clinics Symposium
Stem Cell Agency’s Diane Winokur hailed as Visionary
Generally speaking, I am not a huge fan of gala dinners. It’s not that I don’t like seeing people who do remarkable things getting a well-deserved honor. It’s just that the dinners often go on too long and the food is usually not very good (hey, this is San Francisco, those things matter). But last … Continue reading Stem Cell Agency’s Diane Winokur hailed as Visionary
A road trip to the Inland Empire highlights a hot bed of stem cell research
It took us longer than it should have to pay a visit to California’s Inland Empire, but it was definitely worth the wait. Yesterday CIRM’s Roadshow went to the University of California at Riverside (UCR) to talk to the community there – both scientific and public – about the work we are funding and the … Continue reading A road trip to the Inland Empire highlights a hot bed of stem cell research
Building a better brain organoid
One of the reasons why it’s so hard to develop treatments for problems in the brain – things like Alzheimer’s, autism and schizophrenia - is that you can’t do an autopsy of a living brain to see what’s going wrong. People tend to object. To get around that, scientists have used stem cells to create … Continue reading Building a better brain organoid
Stem Cell Roundup: Backup cells to repair damaged lungs; your unique bowels; and California Cures, 71 ways CIRM is changing the face of medicine
It’s good to have a backup plan Our lungs are amazing things. They take in the air we breathe and move it into our blood so that oxygen can be carried to every part of our body. They’re also surprisingly large. If you were to spread out a lung – and I have no idea … Continue reading Stem Cell Roundup: Backup cells to repair damaged lungs; your unique bowels; and California Cures, 71 ways CIRM is changing the face of medicine
Stem cell study holds out promise for kidney disease
Kidney failure is the Rodney Dangerfield of diseases, it really doesn’t get the respect it deserves. An estimated 660,000 Americans suffer from kidney failure and around 47,000 people die from it every year. That’s more than die from breast or prostate cancer. But now a new study has identified a promising stem cell candidate that … Continue reading Stem cell study holds out promise for kidney disease
The moment of truth. A video about the stem cell therapy that could help millions of people going blind.
“No matter how much one prepares, the first patient is always something very special.” That’s how Dr. Mark Humayun describes his feelings as he prepared to deliver a CIRM-funded stem cell therapy to help someone going blind from dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Humayun, an ophthalmologist and stem cell researcher at USC, spent years developing … Continue reading The moment of truth. A video about the stem cell therapy that could help millions of people going blind.
The Stem Cellar 