April is Parkinson's disease Awareness Month. This year the date is particularly significant because 2017 is the 200th anniversary of the publication of British apothecary James Parkinson's "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy", which is now recognized as a seminal work in describing the disease. To mark the occasion we talked with Dr. Birgitt Schuele, … Continue reading How Parkinson’s disease became personal for one stem cell researcher
Cell Type
Stem Cell Stories That Caught Our Eye: Plasticity in the pancreas and two cool stem cell tools added to the research toolbox
There’s more plasticity in the pancreas than we thought. You’re taught a lot of things about the world when you’re young. As you get older, you realize that not everything you’re told holds true and it’s your own responsibility to determine fact from fiction. This evolution in understanding happens in science too. Scientists do research … Continue reading Stem Cell Stories That Caught Our Eye: Plasticity in the pancreas and two cool stem cell tools added to the research toolbox
CIRM-funded team uncovers novel function for protein linked to autism and schizophrenia
Imagine you’ve just stopped your car at the top of the steepest street in San Francisco. Now, if want to stay at the top of the hill you’re going to need to keep your foot on the brakes. Let go and you’ll start rolling down. Fast. Conceptually, similar decision points happen in human development. A … Continue reading CIRM-funded team uncovers novel function for protein linked to autism and schizophrenia
One scientist’s quest to understand autism using stem cells
April is National Autism Awareness Month and people and organizations around the world are raising awareness about a disorder that affects more than 20 million people globally. Autism affects early brain development and causes a wide spectrum of social, mental, physical and emotional symptoms that appear during childhood. Because the symptoms and their severity can … Continue reading One scientist’s quest to understand autism using stem cells
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: menstrual cycle on a chip, iPS cells from urine, Alpha Stem Cell Clinic Symposium videos
Say hello to EVATAR, a mini female reproductive system on a 3D chip. (Karen Ring) I was listening to the radio this week in my car and caught snippets of a conversation that mentioned the word “Evatar”. Having tuned in halfway through the story, naturally I thought that the reporters were talking about James Cameron’s … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: menstrual cycle on a chip, iPS cells from urine, Alpha Stem Cell Clinic Symposium videos
Bye Bye bubble baby disease: promising results from stem cell gene therapy trial for SCID
You don’t need to analyze any data to know for yourself that Evangelina Vaccaro’s experimental stem cell therapy has cured her of a devastating, often fatal disease of the immune system. All you have to do is look at a photo or video of her to see that she’s now a happy, healthy 5-year-old with a … Continue reading Bye Bye bubble baby disease: promising results from stem cell gene therapy trial for SCID
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: spinal cord injury trial update, blood stem cells in lungs, and using parsley for stem cell therapies
More good news on a CIRM-funded trial for spinal cord injury. The results are now in for Asterias Biotherapeutics’ Phase 1/2a clinical trial testing a stem cell-based therapy for patients with spinal cord injury. They reported earlier this week that six out of six patients treated with 10 million AST-OPC1 cells, which are a type … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: spinal cord injury trial update, blood stem cells in lungs, and using parsley for stem cell therapies
A stem cell clinical trial for blindness: watch Rosie’s story
https://youtu.be/oH4vlVWl6WY Everything we do at CIRM is laser-focused on our mission: to accelerate stem cell treatments for patients with unmet medical needs. So, you might imagine what a thrill it is to meet the people who could be helped by the stem cell research we fund. People like Rosie Barrero who suffers from Retinitis Pigmentosa … Continue reading A stem cell clinical trial for blindness: watch Rosie’s story
Stem Cell Stories that Caught our Eye: stem cell insights into anorexia, Zika infection and bubble baby disease
Here are some stem cell stories that caught our eye this past week. Some are groundbreaking science, others are of personal interest to us, and still others are just fun. Stem cell model identifies new culprit for anorexia. Eating disorders like anorexia nervosa are often thought to be caused by psychological disturbances or societal pressure. … Continue reading Stem Cell Stories that Caught our Eye: stem cell insights into anorexia, Zika infection and bubble baby disease
Mixed Matches: How Your Heritage Can Save a Life
Today we bring you a guest blog from Athena Mari Asklipiadis. She's the founder of Mixed Marrow, which is an organization dedicated to finding bone marrow and blood cell donors to patients of multiethnic descent. Athena helped produce a 2016 documentary film called Mixed Match that encourages mixed race and minority donors to register as adult donors. Due to … Continue reading Mixed Matches: How Your Heritage Can Save a Life
The Stem Cellar 