After what is being described as “an historic debate”, the British Parliament today voted to approve the use of an IVF technique that critics say will lead to the creation of “three parent” babies. Parliament voted 382 to 128 in favor of the technique known as mitochondrial donation, which will prevent certain genetic diseases being … Continue reading British Parliament votes to approve “three parent” baby law
Author: Kevin McCormack
Getting the right tools for the right job
Imagine a device that sits outside the body and works like a form of dialysis for a damaged liver, filtering out the toxins and giving the liver a chance to regenerate, and the patient a chance to avoid the need for a transplant. Or imagine a method of enhancing the number of stem cells we … Continue reading Getting the right tools for the right job
What…exactly…do you do? How 12 year olds helped me learn how to talk about science
Jackie Ward is a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and received a training grant from CIRM while studying for her PhD. At UCSD Jackie uses stem cells as a model to study rare neurodegenerative diseases in the lab of Albert La Spada. Her work as a PhD student focuses on … Continue reading What…exactly…do you do? How 12 year olds helped me learn how to talk about science
Strong ARMing regenerative medicine; bold thoughts on a bright future
It’s a time-honored tradition for the President of the United States to begin his State of the Union speech by saying “The state of our union is strong.” Well, Ed Lanphier, the incoming Chairman of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) – the industry trade group – took a leaf out of that book in … Continue reading Strong ARMing regenerative medicine; bold thoughts on a bright future
CIRM 2.0: A New Year, a new start, a new way to advance research
It’s tradition to begin the New Year by making a resolution. Wikipedia has a wonderful description of what this involves saying it is where “a person makes a promise to do an act of self-improvement or something slightly nice, such as opening doors for people beginning from New Year’s Day.” Well, by that criteria, CIRM … Continue reading CIRM 2.0: A New Year, a new start, a new way to advance research
Peering inside the brain: how stem cells could help turn skin into therapies for dementia
To truly understand a disease you need to be able to see how it works, how it causes our body to act in ways that it shouldn’t. In cancer, for example, you can take cells from a tumor and observe them under a microscope to see what is going on. But with diseases of the … Continue reading Peering inside the brain: how stem cells could help turn skin into therapies for dementia
How stem cells made the list of scientific breakthroughs of 2014 (twice actually)
This is the time of year when everyone puts out their lists of the best and worst of the last 12 months. The best movies (”Guardians of the Galaxy”, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”) the worst movies (“Guardians of the Galaxy”, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” – it’s all a matter of taste really) the best music … Continue reading How stem cells made the list of scientific breakthroughs of 2014 (twice actually)
A look at 2014: some of the lowlights of stem cell research this past year
It’s been quite a year in stem cell research. Here at the stem cell agency eight projects that we are funding have been approved for clinical trials and several more hope to get approval in early 2015. And Dr. Don Kohn and his team at UCLA announced that they have effectively cured Severe Combined Immunodeficiency … Continue reading A look at 2014: some of the lowlights of stem cell research this past year
A Christmas miracle or untested therapy? Why even feel-good stem cell stories need to be checked for accuracy
We’ve written several pieces over the last couple of years about the trend for professional athletes to turn to untested and/or unproven stem cell therapies to help them bounce back from injuries. This week, however, came news of something a little more worrying. Ice hockey legend Gordie Howe was given stem cells to help him … Continue reading A Christmas miracle or untested therapy? Why even feel-good stem cell stories need to be checked for accuracy
Maintaining the momentum: a good start but CIRM 2.0 is just the first step
Newton’s First Law of Physics states that an object either remains at rest or continues to move at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force. Well, for the stem cell agency the external force was an exercise in thinking differently about how we do business. That resulted in our governing Board approving … Continue reading Maintaining the momentum: a good start but CIRM 2.0 is just the first step
The Stem Cellar 