Stem Cell Stories That Caught our Eye: Stem Cell Therapies for Stroke and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Patients

With the Thanksgiving holiday behind us, we’re back to the grind at CIRM. Here are two exciting CIRM-funded stem cell stories that happened while you were away. Stanford Scientists Are Treating Stroke Patients with Stem Cells Smithsonian Magazine featured the work of a CIRM-funded scientist in their December Magazine issue. The article, “A Neurosurgeon’s Remarkable … Continue reading Stem Cell Stories That Caught our Eye: Stem Cell Therapies for Stroke and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Patients

Giving thanks to Caleb and all of our stem cell pioneers [Video]

For our last blog before the Thanksgiving holiday, we give thanks to the patients and their caregivers who are forging a path toward a new era of regenerative medicine therapies through their participation in CIRM-funded clinical trials. Some of our trials are in the early stages which means they are mainly focused on safety. Participants … Continue reading Giving thanks to Caleb and all of our stem cell pioneers [Video]

Using heart stem cells to help boys battling a deadly disorder

  It’s hard to imagine how missing just one tiny protein can have such a devastating impact on a person. But with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) the lack of a single protein called dystrophin has deadly consequences. Now a new study is offering hope we may be able to help people with this rare genetic … Continue reading Using heart stem cells to help boys battling a deadly disorder

CIRM-Funded Clinical Trials Targeting the Heart, Pancreas, and Kidneys

This blog is part of our Month of CIRM series, which features our Agency’s progress towards achieving our mission to accelerate stem cell treatments to patients with unmet medical needs. This week, we’re highlighting CIRM-funded clinical trials to address the growing interest in our rapidly expanding clinical portfolio. Today we are featuring trials in our … Continue reading CIRM-Funded Clinical Trials Targeting the Heart, Pancreas, and Kidneys

Family, faith and funding from CIRM inspire one patient to plan for his future

Having been to many conferences and meetings over the years I have found there is a really simple way to gauge if someone is a good speaker, if they have the attention of people in the room. You just look around and see how many people are on their phones or laptops, checking their email … Continue reading Family, faith and funding from CIRM inspire one patient to plan for his future

CIRM-funded life-saving stem cell therapy gets nod of approval from FDA

If you have read our 2016 Annual Report (and if you haven’t you should, it’s brilliant) or just seen the cover you’ll know that it features very prominently a young girl named Evie Padilla Vaccaro. Evie was born with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency or SCID – also known as “bubble baby disease”; we’ve written about it … Continue reading CIRM-funded life-saving stem cell therapy gets nod of approval from FDA

Stem cell stories that caught our eye: update on Capricor’s heart attack trial; lithium on the brain; and how stem cells do math

Today our partners Capricor Therapeutics announced that its stem cell therapy for patients who have experienced a large heart attack is unlikely to meet one of its key goals, namely reducing the scar size in the heart 12 months after treatment. The news came after analyzing results from patients at the halfway point of the … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: update on Capricor’s heart attack trial; lithium on the brain; and how stem cells do math

Capricor reports positive results on CIRM-funded stem cell trial for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Capricor Therapeutics, a Los Angeles-based company, published an update about its CIRM-funded clinical trial for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a devastating degenerative muscle disease that significantly reduces life expectancy. The company reported positive results from their Phase I/II HOPE trial that’s testing the safety of their cardiosphere stem cell-based therapy called CAP-1002. The trial had … Continue reading Capricor reports positive results on CIRM-funded stem cell trial for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Stem Cells Profile in Courage: Pat Furlong, Patient Advocate

One of the true joys for me in helping put together this year’s Annual Report was getting to know the patients and patient advocates that we profiled in the report. These are some extraordinary individuals and the short profiles we posted only touch the surface of just how extraordinary. So, over the next few weeks … Continue reading Stem Cells Profile in Courage: Pat Furlong, Patient Advocate

Stem cell agency funds clinical trials in three life-threatening conditions

A year ago the CIRM Board unanimously approved a new Strategic Plan for the stem cell agency. In the plan are some rather ambitious goals, including funding ten new clinical trials in 2016. For much of the last year that has looked very ambitious indeed. But today the Board took a big step towards reaching … Continue reading Stem cell agency funds clinical trials in three life-threatening conditions