An innovative therapy that uses a patient’s own immune system to attack cancer stem cells is one of three new clinical trials approved for funding by CIRM's Governing Board. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine were awarded $11.9 million to test their Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T Cell Therapy in patients with B … Continue reading Therapies Targeting Cancer, Deadly Immune Disorder and Life-Threatening Blood Condition Get Almost $32 Million Boost from CIRM Board
Blood stem cells
The Story of a South African Bubble Boy and a Gene Therapy That Gave Him His Life Back
Ayaan Isaacs was born in South Africa on March 4th, 2016 as a seemingly healthy baby. But only a few days in to life, he contracted a life-threatening liver infection. He thankfully survived, only to have the doctors discover a few weeks later that he had something much more troubling – a rare disease that … Continue reading The Story of a South African Bubble Boy and a Gene Therapy That Gave Him His Life Back
Stem cell clinics make big claims but offer little evidence they can treat osteoarthritic knees
If someone says they have a success rate of close to 100 percent in treating a major health problem but offer little evidence to back that up, you might be excused for being more than a tad skeptical. And a new study says you would be right. The health problem in question is osteoarthritis (OA) … Continue reading Stem cell clinics make big claims but offer little evidence they can treat osteoarthritic knees
Stem Cell Round: Improving memory, building up “good” fat, nanomedicine
Stem Cell Photo of the Week In honor of brain awareness week, our featured stem cell photo is of the brain! Scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Stem Cell Institute identified a genetic switch that could potentially improve memory during aging and symptoms of PTSD. Shown in this picture are dentate gyrus cells … Continue reading Stem Cell Round: Improving memory, building up “good” fat, nanomedicine
Stem Cell Roundup: No nerve cells for you, old man; stem cells take out the trash; clues to better tattoo removal
Stem cell image of the week: Do they or don’t they? The debate on new nerve cell growth in adult brain rages on. For the longest time, it was simply a given among scientists that once you reach adulthood, your brain’s neuron-making days were over. Then, over the past several decades, evidence emerged that the adult … Continue reading Stem Cell Roundup: No nerve cells for you, old man; stem cells take out the trash; clues to better tattoo removal
It’s World Kidney Day: Highlighting CIRM’s Investments in Treating Kidney Failure
Today is World Kidney Day. Hundreds of events across the globe are taking place “to raise awareness of the importance of our kidneys to our overall health and to reduce the frequency and impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide.” (Side note: in recognition that today is also International Women’s Day, World … Continue reading It’s World Kidney Day: Highlighting CIRM’s Investments in Treating Kidney Failure
Breaking the isolation of rare diseases
How can something that affects 30 million Americans, one in ten people in the US, be called rare? But that’s the case with people who have a rare disease. There are around 7,000 different diseases that are categorized as rare because they affect fewer than 200,000 people. Less than five percent of these diseases have … Continue reading Breaking the isolation of rare diseases
Friday Roundup: A better kind of blood stem cell transplant; Encouraging news from spinal cord injury trial; Finding an “elusive” cell that could help diabetics
Cool Instagram image of the week: Chemo- and radiation-free blood stem cell transplant showing promise Bubble baby disease, also known as severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), is an inherited disorder that leaves newborns without an effective immune system. Currently, the only approved treatment for SCID is a blood stem cell transplant, in which the patient’s defective … Continue reading Friday Roundup: A better kind of blood stem cell transplant; Encouraging news from spinal cord injury trial; Finding an “elusive” cell that could help diabetics
Using the AIDS virus to help children battling a deadly immune disorder
More than 35 million people around the world have been killed by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. So, it’s hard to think that the same approach the virus uses to infect cells could also be used to help children battling a deadly immune system disorder. But that’s precisely what researchers at UC San Francisco … Continue reading Using the AIDS virus to help children battling a deadly immune disorder
Throwback Thursday: Progress towards a cure for HIV/AIDS
Welcome to our “Throwback Thursday” series on the Stem Cellar. Over the years, we’ve accumulated an arsenal of exciting stem cell stories about advances towards stem cell-based cures for serious diseases. Today we’re featuring stories about the progress of CIRM-funded research and clinical trials that are aimed at developing stem cell-based treatments for HIV/AIDS. Tomorrow, … Continue reading Throwback Thursday: Progress towards a cure for HIV/AIDS
The Stem Cellar 