Poopy diapers, ear-splitting cries, and sleepless nights: sure, the first few weeks of parenthood are grueling but those other moments of cuddling and kissing your little baby are pure bliss. That wasn’t the case for Alysia and Christian Padilla-Vacarro of Corona, California. Close contact with their infant daughter Evangelina, born in 2012, was off limits. … Continue reading UCLA team cures infants of often-fatal “bubble baby” disease by inserting gene in their stem cells; sickle cell disease is next target
Author: Todd Dubnicoff
More Than Meets the Eye: Protein that Keeps Cancer in Check also Plays Direct Role in Stem Cell Biology, a Stanford Study Finds.
Here’s a startling fact: the retinoblastoma protein —Rb, for short — is defective or missing in nearly all cancers. Rb is called a tumor suppressor because it prevents excessive cell growth by acting as a crucial traffic stop for the cell cycle, a process that controls the timing for a cell to divide and multiply. … Continue reading More Than Meets the Eye: Protein that Keeps Cancer in Check also Plays Direct Role in Stem Cell Biology, a Stanford Study Finds.
Unlocking the Wonder Drug’s Secrets: Aspirin Fends Off Colon Cancer by Killing Faulty Intestinal Stem Cells
Over 700,000 people worldwide died from colorectal cancer in 2010, up from 500,000 in 1990, making it the fourth leading cause of cancer death behind lung, stomach and liver. Remarkably, your household bottle of aspirin – in addition to relieving the common headache – protects against colorectal cancer based on several clinical trials over the … Continue reading Unlocking the Wonder Drug’s Secrets: Aspirin Fends Off Colon Cancer by Killing Faulty Intestinal Stem Cells
The Nose Knows: Stem Cells are Vital Players in Brain Circuits Responsible for Smell
Ah, the mouth-watering scent of freshly baked bread and the intense aroma of roasted coffee beans. You can thank nerve cells in the front of your brain — in direct contact with your nasal passages — that convert odor molecules in the air into brain signals and generate your perception of those wonderful smells. Loss … Continue reading The Nose Knows: Stem Cells are Vital Players in Brain Circuits Responsible for Smell
The sparrow’s dying song: a possible path toward natural, stem cell-based repair of human brain diseases
Songbird research? How the heck could studying tweeting birds lead to advancements in human health? At a first glance, biological research in other organisms like bacteria, yeast, flies, mice and birds can seem frivolous and a waste of taxpayer money. Yet it’s astonishing how we humans share very similar if not identical functions at a … Continue reading The sparrow’s dying song: a possible path toward natural, stem cell-based repair of human brain diseases
New Videos: Living with Crohn’s Disease and Working Towards a Stem Cell Therapy
Note: the two videos below are also available on our website She doesn’t want your sympathy. She doesn’t want your admiration. She just wants your understanding. Rachel Bonner, a sixteen-year-old high school student and founder of the Hope for Crohn’s charity, spoke to the CIRM governing Board on September 10th about what it’s like living … Continue reading New Videos: Living with Crohn’s Disease and Working Towards a Stem Cell Therapy
UCSD Team Launches CIRM-Funded Trial to Test Safety of New Leukemia Drug
Ridding weeds from your lawn can be a frustrating experience without a good weeding tool in hand. If you don’t rip out the whole weed, root and all, it’s likely to grow back in no time. Cancer patients and their physicians experience a similar frustration but with deadly consequences. Many current cancer treatment “tools” effectively … Continue reading UCSD Team Launches CIRM-Funded Trial to Test Safety of New Leukemia Drug
Disease in a Dish – That’s a Mouthful: Using Human Stem Cells to Find ALS Treatments
Saying “let’s put some shrimp on the barbie” will whet an Australian’s appetite for barbequed prawns but for an American it conjures up an odd image of placing shrimp on a Barbie doll. This sort of word play confusion doesn’t just happen across continents but also between scientists and the public. Take “disease in a … Continue reading Disease in a Dish – That’s a Mouthful: Using Human Stem Cells to Find ALS Treatments
New Videos: Downton Abbey, preeclampsia, and the search for a cure using stem cells
(Downton Abbey Spoiler Alert: skip ahead to the video if you haven’t seen Season 3!) If you’re one of the estimated 10 million devoted Downton Abbey TV viewers, then you most probably have heard of the word “preeclampsia.” In a heart-wrenching episode from season 3 of the early 20th century British drama, one of the … Continue reading New Videos: Downton Abbey, preeclampsia, and the search for a cure using stem cells
Stem cell techniques yield new clues to the origins of schizophrenia
Although the word “schizophrenia” was coined over 100 years ago, scientists are still stumped by what causes this severe brain disorder, which afflicts an estimated three million Americans and presents a financial burden of $63 billion each year. People with schizophrenia suffer debilitating delusional and hallucinatory symptoms, such as hearing voices or believing that tragedy … Continue reading Stem cell techniques yield new clues to the origins of schizophrenia
The Stem Cellar 