It’s been almost ten years since the voters of California created the Stem Cell Agency when they overwhelmingly approved Proposition 71, providing us $3 billion to help fund stem cell research. In the last ten years we have made great progress – we will have ten projects that we are funding in or approved to … Continue reading What everybody needs to know about CIRM: where has the money gone
Author: Kevin McCormack
Hands-on science turns kids heads
Making science fun. That was the goal of the Discovery Days event on Saturday in San Francisco, part of the Bay Area Science Festival. If numbers alone are any measure of success they certainly met their goal. The place was packed. But it was more than just the size of the crowd that demonstrated how … Continue reading Hands-on science turns kids heads
Discovery Days; bringing new life to the life sciences
Here are three words you don’t often see strung together: free, science, extravaganza. Yet that’s how Saturday’s Discovery Days at AT&T Park in San Francisco (home of the newly crowned baseball world champion Giants) is being described. The event truly is a celebration of science. It features more than 150 exhibits on everything from stem … Continue reading Discovery Days; bringing new life to the life sciences
Moving one step closer to a therapy for type 1 diabetes
When I was a medical journalist one word I always shied away from was “breakthrough”. There are few true breakthroughs in medicine. Usually any advance is the result of years and years of work. That’s why good science takes time; it takes hundreds of small steps to make a giant leap forward. Today we took … Continue reading Moving one step closer to a therapy for type 1 diabetes
CIRM 2.0; saving time, saves lives
It’s been almost ten years since the voters of California approved Proposition 71, creating the Stem Cell Agency and giving us $3 billion to fund stem cell research. So this is an appropriate time to look back and see what we have done with the money so far, the progress that’s been made, and where … Continue reading CIRM 2.0; saving time, saves lives
Stem Cell Awareness Day and the Stem Cell Person of the Year
Today is Stem Cell Awareness Day, an event that seeks to bring together individuals and organizations around the world working to celebrate and raise awareness about the tremendous progress being made in stem cell research, and to ensure we remain focused on keeping that progress going until we have cures or treatments for people in … Continue reading Stem Cell Awareness Day and the Stem Cell Person of the Year
CIRM 2.0: How to Build a Better Stem Cell Agency and Speed up Treatments to Patients
Change is never easy. We all get used to doing things in a certain way and it can sometimes be difficult to realize that the way we have chosen, while it may have worked well at one time is perhaps not the best way to achieve our goals at this time. Well, change is coming … Continue reading CIRM 2.0: How to Build a Better Stem Cell Agency and Speed up Treatments to Patients
World’s largest pharmaceutical company signs deal with ViaCyte supporting stem cell therapy for type 1 diabetes
It’s been a good week for ViaCyte, a good week for us here at the stem cell agency and potentially a great week for people with type 1 diabetes.Earlier this week ViaCyte announced they have been given approval to start a clinical trial for their new approach to treating type 1 diabetes. Then today they announced … Continue reading World’s largest pharmaceutical company signs deal with ViaCyte supporting stem cell therapy for type 1 diabetes
First of its kind stem cell production facility sets its sights on deadly childhood disease
We are used to hearing about immune suppression when transplanting organs or cells from one person to another. It’s a necessary step in preventing the body from attacking the transplanted material. Now Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) has just unveiled its newest tool to treat rare childhood diseases. Instead of focusing on immune suppression … Continue reading First of its kind stem cell production facility sets its sights on deadly childhood disease
CIRM funded therapy for type 1 diabetes gets FDA approval for clinical trial
It’s always nice to start the week off with some good news and we got this week off to a great start with some great news. ViaCyte has been given the green light to start a clinical trial with its therapy for type 1 diabetes, a program we are funding.ViaCyte applied to the Food and … Continue reading CIRM funded therapy for type 1 diabetes gets FDA approval for clinical trial
The Stem Cellar 