How do you mend a broken heart? It’s a subject that songwriters have pondered for generations, without success. But if you pose the same question to a heart doctor, they would give you a number of practical options that focus on the prevention or management of the physical symptoms you are dealing with. That’s because … Continue reading Patching up a Broken Heart with FSTL1
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: diabetes drug hits cancer, video stem cell tracker and quick n’ easy stem cells for fatal lung disease
Teaching an old drug new tricks. One the quickest way to get a drug to market is to find one that’s already been FDA approved for other diseases. Reporting this week in Cell Metabolism, researchers from London and Madrid identified the mechanisms that enable the anti-diabetic drug, metformin, to kill pancreatic cancer stem cells (PanCSCs). … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: diabetes drug hits cancer, video stem cell tracker and quick n’ easy stem cells for fatal lung disease
Using satellites to build bigger biceps
There are several ways you can build bigger, stronger muscles. You can take the approach favored by our former Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and pump iron till your biceps are as inflated as a birthday balloon. Or you could follow the lead of a research team we are funding and try to use stem cells to … Continue reading Using satellites to build bigger biceps
CIRM CAP Kickoff to New Clinical Trials
Alisha Bouge is the project manager for CIRM's Clinical Advisory Panels (CAPs) On the cusp of the official kickoff to football season, CIRM has had its own kickoff to celebrate. The first Clinical Advisory Panel (CAP) meeting took place on August 18, 2015 in Irvine, CA with Caladrius Bioscience, Inc. And just as every NFL … Continue reading CIRM CAP Kickoff to New Clinical Trials
Brain Stem Cells in a Dish to the Rescue
The best way to impress your friends at the next party you attend might be to casually mention that scientists can grow miniature brain models in a dish using human stem cells. Sure, that might scare away some people, but when you explain how these tiny brain models can be used to study many different … Continue reading Brain Stem Cells in a Dish to the Rescue
The Stem Cell Bank is open for business
When you go to a bank and withdraw money you know that the notes you get are all going to look the same and do the same job, namely allow you to buy things. But when you get stem cells for research that’s not necessarily the case. Stem cells bought from different laboratories don’t always … Continue reading The Stem Cell Bank is open for business
CIRM-funded clinical trial for spinal cord injury reports promising results
Today, the Menlo Park-based biotech company Asterias Biotherapeutics reported positive results from the first three patients treated in its Phase 1/2a clinical study using stem cell therapy to treat patients with spinal cord injury. This trial is funded by a CIRM Strategic Partnerships Award grant of $14.3 million. Asterias has developed a stem cell therapy … Continue reading CIRM-funded clinical trial for spinal cord injury reports promising results
Cell mate: the man who makes stem cells for clinical trials
When we announced that one of the researchers we fund - Dr. Henry Klassen at the University of California, Irvine - has begun his clinical trial to treat the vision-destroying disease retinitis pigmentosa, we celebrated the excitement felt by the researchers and the hope from people with the disease. But we missed out one group. … Continue reading Cell mate: the man who makes stem cells for clinical trials
Study Identifies Safer Stem Cell Therapies
To reject or not reject, that is the question facing the human immune system when new tissue or cells are transplanted into the body. Stem cell-therapy promises hope for many debilitating diseases that currently have no cures. However, the issue of immune rejection has prompted scientists to carefully consider how to develop safe stem cell … Continue reading Study Identifies Safer Stem Cell Therapies
New Regenerative Liver Cells Identified
It’s common knowledge that your liver is a champion when it comes to regeneration. It’s actually one of the few internal organs in the human body that can robustly regenerate itself after injury. Other organs such as the heart and lungs do not have the same regenerative response and instead generate scar tissue to protect … Continue reading New Regenerative Liver Cells Identified
The Stem Cellar 