As we enter the new year, CIRM’s 2017 Annual Report will be posted in a few short weeks! Here’s a sneak peek at CIRM’s progress in clinical trials. At the start of 2017, we set a goal of finding and funding 12 new, high quality clinical trials. We easily beat that goal, funding 16, in … Continue reading Accelerating stem cell treatments to patients in 2017
Author: Kevin McCormack
Budgeting for the future of the stem cell agency
Budgets are very rarely exciting things; but they are important. For example, it’s useful for a family to know when they go shopping exactly how much money they have so they know how much they can afford to spend. Stem cell agencies face the same constraints; you can’t spend more than you have. Last week … Continue reading Budgeting for the future of the stem cell agency
Using the AIDS virus to help children battling a deadly immune disorder
More than 35 million people around the world have been killed by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. So, it’s hard to think that the same approach the virus uses to infect cells could also be used to help children battling a deadly immune system disorder. But that’s precisely what researchers at UC San Francisco … Continue reading Using the AIDS virus to help children battling a deadly immune disorder
Hey, what’s the big idea? CIRM Board is putting up more than $16.4 million to find out
When you have a life-changing, life-threatening disease, medical research never moves as quickly as you want to find a new treatment. Sometimes, as in the case of Parkinson’s disease, it doesn’t seem to move at all. At our Board meeting last week David Higgins, our Board member and Patient Advocate for Parkinson’s disease, made that … Continue reading Hey, what’s the big idea? CIRM Board is putting up more than $16.4 million to find out
It’s time to vote for the Stem Cell Person of the Year
Oh well, it’s going to be another year of disappointment for me. Not only did I fail to get any Nobel Prize (I figured my blogs might give me a shot at Literature after they gave it to Bob Dylan last year), but I didn’t get a MacArthur Genius Award. Now I find out I … Continue reading It’s time to vote for the Stem Cell Person of the Year
Engaging the patient to create a culture of health citizenship
One of the buzz phrases in healthcare today is “patient engagement”. It seems that you can’t go to a medical or scientific conference without coming across a panel discussion on the topic. A recent Partnering For Cures* event in San Francisco was no exception. But here the conversation took on a very different tone, one … Continue reading Engaging the patient to create a culture of health citizenship
Stories that caught our eye: How dying cells could help save lives; could modified blood stem cells reverse diabetes?; and FDA has good news for patients, bad news for rogue clinics
Growing up I loved watching old cowboy movies. Invariably the hero, even though mortally wounded, would manage to save the day and rescue the heroine and/or the town. Now it seems some stem cells perform the same function, dying in order to save the lives of others. Researchers at Kings College in London were trying … Continue reading Stories that caught our eye: How dying cells could help save lives; could modified blood stem cells reverse diabetes?; and FDA has good news for patients, bad news for rogue clinics
Using heart stem cells to help boys battling a deadly disorder
It’s hard to imagine how missing just one tiny protein can have such a devastating impact on a person. But with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) the lack of a single protein called dystrophin has deadly consequences. Now a new study is offering hope we may be able to help people with this rare genetic … Continue reading Using heart stem cells to help boys battling a deadly disorder
Using stem cells to take an inside approach to fixing damaged livers
Often on the Stem Cellar we write about work that is in a clinical trial. But getting research to that stage takes years and years of dedicated work. Over the next few months we are going to profile some of the scientists we fund who are doing Discovery, or early stage research, to highlight the … Continue reading Using stem cells to take an inside approach to fixing damaged livers
How a tiny patch of skin helped researchers save the life of a young boy battling a deadly disease
By any standards epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a nasty disease. It’s a genetic condition that causes the skin to blister, break and tear off. At best, it’s painful and disfiguring. At worst, it can be fatal. Now researchers in Italy have come up with an approach that could offer hope for people battling the … Continue reading How a tiny patch of skin helped researchers save the life of a young boy battling a deadly disease
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