Evie Vaccaro You can’t look at this photo and not smile. This is Evie Vaccaro, and it’s clear she is just bursting with energy and vitality. Sometimes it feels like I have known Evie all her life. In a way I have. And I feel so fortunate to have done so, and that’s why this … Continue reading Celebrating a life that almost didn’t happen
Clinical Trials
Encouraging news for treatment targeting retinitis pigmentosa
While most people probably wouldn’t put 2020 in their list of favorite years, it’s certainly turning out to be a good one for jCyte. Earlier this year jCyte entered into a partnership with global ophthalmology company Santen Pharmaceuticals worth up to $252 million. Then earlier this week they announced some encouraging results from their Phase … Continue reading Encouraging news for treatment targeting retinitis pigmentosa
Cord blood transplants help children fighting deadly diseases
Dr. Paul Szabolcs: Photo courtesy of UPMC A simple blood stem cell transplant is showing tremendous promise in treating a wide range of metabolic, blood and immune disorders such as thalassemia and some leukodystrophies. These are considered rare diseases – meaning there are fewer than 200,000 people with them in the US – so there … Continue reading Cord blood transplants help children fighting deadly diseases
Four teaspoons could save a life
Sometimes it’s the smallest things that make the biggest difference. In the case of a clinical trial that CIRM is funding, all it takes to be part of it is four teaspoons of blood. The clinical trial is being run by Dr. John Zaia and his team at the City of Hope in Duarte, near … Continue reading Four teaspoons could save a life
CIRM Board Approves Third Clinical Trial for COVID-19
Dr. Xiaokui Zhang (left), Dr. Albert Wong (center), and Dr. Preet Chaudhary (right) Today the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) awarded $750,000 to Dr. Xiaokui Zhang at Celularity to conduct a clinical trial for the treatment of COVID-19. This brings the total number of CIRM clinical trials to 64, including … Continue reading CIRM Board Approves Third Clinical Trial for COVID-19
Scientists Engineer Stem Cells to Fight HIV
Image of the virus that causes AIDS - courtesy NIH If that headline seems familiar it should. It came from an article in MIT Technology Review back in 2009. There have been many other headlines since then, all on the same subject, and yet here we are, in 2020, and still no cure for HIV/AIDS. … Continue reading Scientists Engineer Stem Cells to Fight HIV
Parkinson’s Disease and Stem Cells
Lila Collins, PhD A few weeks ago we held a Facebook Live "Ask the Stem Cell Team About Parkinson's Disease" event. As you can imagine we got lots of questions but, because of time constraints, only had time to answer a few. Thanks to my fabulous CIRM colleagues, Dr. Lila Collins and Dr. Kent Fitzgerald, … Continue reading Parkinson’s Disease and Stem Cells
CIRM Board Expands Efforts of COVID-19 Program
Today the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) expanded efforts related to the $5 million in emergency funding for the CIRM COVID-19 program. The new guidelines mean that inception discovery projects (DISC1), whose goal is developing new and transformational ideas, will now be eligible for CIRM COVID-19 funding. These projects can … Continue reading CIRM Board Expands Efforts of COVID-19 Program
A Tribute to Huntington’s Disease Warriors in the Age of COVID-19
Frances Saldana is one of the most remarkable women I know. She has lost all three of her children to Huntington's disease (HD) - a nasty, fatal disease that steadily destroys the nerve cells in the brain - but still retains a fighting spirit and a commitment to finding a cure for HD. She is … Continue reading A Tribute to Huntington’s Disease Warriors in the Age of COVID-19
Two rare diseases, two pieces of good news
Dr. Stephanie Cherqui Last week saw a flurry of really encouraging reports from projects that CIRM has supported. We blogged about two of them last Wednesday, but here’s another two programs showing promising results. UC San Diego researcher Dr. Stephanie Cherqui is running a CIRM-funded clinical trial for cystinosis. This is a condition where patients … Continue reading Two rare diseases, two pieces of good news
The Stem Cellar 