Biomedical specialist Mamadou Dialio at work in the Cedars-Sinai Biomanufacturing Center. Photo by Cedars-Sinai. Following the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 has been a crash course in learning how complicated creating a new therapy is. It’s not just the science involved, but the logistics. Coming up with a vaccine that is both safe … Continue reading You can’t take it if you don’t make it
bioengineering
CIRM-funded therapy to ease the impact of chemotherapy
Treatments for cancer have advanced a lot in recent years, but many still rely on the use of chemotherapy to either shrink tumors before surgery or help remove cancerous cells the surgery missed. The chemo can be very effective, but it’s also very toxic. Angiocrine Bioscience Inc. is developing a way to reduce those toxic … Continue reading CIRM-funded therapy to ease the impact of chemotherapy
Stem cell therapy for deadly childhood immune disorder goes four for four
The gold standard for any new therapy in the U.S. is approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This approval clears the therapy for sale and often also means it will be covered by insurance. But along the way there are other designations that can mean a lot to a company developing a new … Continue reading Stem cell therapy for deadly childhood immune disorder goes four for four
Cures, clinical trials and unmet medical needs
When you have a great story to tell there’s no shame in repeating it as often as you can. After all, not everyone gets to hear first time around. Or second or third time. So that’s why we wanted to give you another opportunity to tune into some of the great presentations and discussions at … Continue reading Cures, clinical trials and unmet medical needs
Partners in health
From left to right: Heather Dahlenburg, staff research associate; Jan Nolta, director of the Stem Cell Program; Jeannine Logan White, advanced cell therapy project manager; Sheng Yang, graduate student, Bridges Program, Humboldt State University, October 18, 2019. (AJ Cheline/UC Davis) At CIRM we are modest enough to know that we can't do everything by ourselves. … Continue reading Partners in health
Byron’s story
Bryon Jenkin’s is one of the people we profiled in our recent 18 Month Report. The theme of the report is “Perseverance” and Byron certainly epitomizes that. This is his story. Photo of Byron Jenkins - hand on the plane - in his Navy fighter pilot days A former Navy flight officer and accomplished athlete … Continue reading Byron’s story
Creating an on-off switch to test stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s Disease
Sometimes you read about a new study where the researchers did something that just leaves you gob smacked. That’s how I felt when I read a study in the journal Cell Stem Cell about a possible new approach to helping people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). More on the gob smacking later. But first the reason … Continue reading Creating an on-off switch to test stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s Disease
Explaining COVID can be a pitch
When people ask me what I do at CIRM I sometimes half-jokingly tell them that I’m the official translator: I take complex science and turn it into everyday English. That’s important. The taxpayers of California have a right to know how their money is being spent and how it might benefit them. But that message … Continue reading Explaining COVID can be a pitch
CIRM-funded kidney transplant procedure eyeing faster approval
Kidney transplant surgery. Medeor Therapeutics, which is running a CIRM-funded clinical trial to help people getting kidney transplants, just got some really good news. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just granted their product Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation. That’s a big deal because it means they may be able to apply … Continue reading CIRM-funded kidney transplant procedure eyeing faster approval
Charting a new course for stem cell research
What are the latest advances in stem cell research targeting cancer? Can stem cells help people battling COVID-19 or even help develop a vaccine to stop the virus? What are researchers and the scientific community doing to help address the unmet medical needs of underserved communities? Those are just a few of the topics being … Continue reading Charting a new course for stem cell research
The Stem Cellar 