Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States and is estimated to be responsible for 31% of all deaths globally. This disease encompasses a wide variety of conditions that all effect how well your heart is able to pump blood to the rest of your body. … Continue reading Sequencing data helps us understand the genes involved in heart cell development
Basic Research
Hits and Myths as people celebrate Stem Cell Awareness Day
Every year, the second Wednesday in October is set aside as Stem Cell Awareness Day, a time to celebrate the progress being made in the field and to remind us of the challenges that lie ahead. While the event began here in California in 2008, with then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger highlighting the work of CIRM, saying: … Continue reading Hits and Myths as people celebrate Stem Cell Awareness Day
Why having a wrinkled brain is a good thing
We normally associate wrinkles with aging, such as wrinkled skin. But there’s one organ that is wrinkled right from the time we are born. It’s our brain. And new research shows those wrinkles are not a sign of age but are, in fact, a sign of just how large and complex our brains are. The … Continue reading Why having a wrinkled brain is a good thing
Research Targeting Prostate Cancer Gets Almost $4 Million Support from CIRM
A program hoping to supercharge a patient’s own immune system cells to attack and kill a treatment resistant form of prostate cancer was today awarded $3.99 million by the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) In the U.S., prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in men. … Continue reading Research Targeting Prostate Cancer Gets Almost $4 Million Support from CIRM
Headline: Stem Cell Roundup: Here are some stem cell stories that caught our eye this past week.
In search of a miracle One of the toughest parts of my job is getting daily calls and emails from people desperate for a stem cell treatment or cure for themselves or a loved one and having to tell them that I don’t know of any. You can hear in their voice, read it in … Continue reading Headline: Stem Cell Roundup: Here are some stem cell stories that caught our eye this past week.
Starving stem cells of oxygen can help build stronger bones
We usually think that starving something of oxygen is going to make it weaker and maybe even kill it. But a new study by J. Kent Leach at UC Davis shows that instead of weakening bone defects, depriving them of oxygen might help boost their ability to create new bone or repair existing bone. Leach … Continue reading Starving stem cells of oxygen can help build stronger bones
For the first time, scientists entirely reprogram human skin cells to iPSCs using CRISPR
Back in 2012, Shinya Yamanaka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his group’s identification of “Yamanaka Factors,” a group of genes that are capable of turning ordinary skin cells into induced pluripotentent stem cells (iPSCs) which have the ability to become any type of cell within the body. Discovery of iPSCs … Continue reading For the first time, scientists entirely reprogram human skin cells to iPSCs using CRISPR
Stem cell gene therapy combination could help children battling a rare genetic disorder
Hunter syndrome is devastating. It’s caused by a single enzyme, IDS, that is either missing or malfunctioning. Without the enzyme the body is unable to break down complex sugar molecules and as those build up they cause permanent, progressive damage to the body and brain and, in some instances, result in severe mental disabilities. There … Continue reading Stem cell gene therapy combination could help children battling a rare genetic disorder
“Junk” DNA is development gold for the dividing embryo
The DNA in our cells provide the instructions to make proteins, the workhorses of our body. Yet less than 2% of the 3 billion base pairs (the structural units of DNA) in each of our cells are actually involved in protein production. The rest, termed non-coding DNA for not being involved in protein production, has … Continue reading “Junk” DNA is development gold for the dividing embryo
Fish umbrellas and human bone: protecting blood stem cells from the sun’s UV rays
Most people probably do not question the fact that human blood stem cells – those that give rise to all the cells in our blood – live inside the marrow of our bones, called a stem cell “niche”. But it is pretty odd when you stop to think about it. I mean, it makes sense … Continue reading Fish umbrellas and human bone: protecting blood stem cells from the sun’s UV rays
The Stem Cellar 