Stem Cell Awareness Day: Past, Present, Future

In 2008, the then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger  declared Sept. 25 to be Stem Cell Awareness Day. In the proclamation he said, ”The discoveries being made today in our Golden State will have a great impact on many around the world for generations to come.” In the years since, we have moved steadily towards turning … Continue reading Stem Cell Awareness Day: Past, Present, Future

Can Stem Cell Therapies Help ALS Patients?

A scientist’s fifteen-year journey to develop a stem cell-based therapy that could one day help ALS patients. “Can stem cells help me Clive?” The sentence appeared slowly on a computer screen, each character separated by a pause while its author searched for the next character using a device controlled by his eye muscle. The person … Continue reading Can Stem Cell Therapies Help ALS Patients?

Stem Cell Stories that Caught Our Eye: New law to protect consumers; using skin to monitor blood sugar; and a win for the good guys

New law targets stem cell clinics that offer therapies not approved by the FDA For some time now CIRM and others around California have been warning consumers about the risks involved in going to clinics that offer stem cell therapies that have not been tested in a clinical trial or approved by the U.S. Food … Continue reading Stem Cell Stories that Caught Our Eye: New law to protect consumers; using skin to monitor blood sugar; and a win for the good guys

CIRM-Funded Clinical Trials Targeting Blood and Immune Disorders

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 blood and … Continue reading CIRM-Funded Clinical Trials Targeting Blood and Immune Disorders

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

CIRM-Funded Clinical Trials Targeting Brain and Eye Disorders

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. Our Agency has funded a total of … Continue reading CIRM-Funded Clinical Trials Targeting Brain and Eye Disorders

CIRM-Funded Clinical Trials Targeting Cancers

Welcome to the Month of CIRM! As we mentioned in last Thursday’s blog, during the month of October we’ll be looking back at what CIRM has done since the agency was created by the people of California back in 2004. To start things off, we’ll be focusing on CIRM-funded clinical trials this week. Supporting clinical … Continue reading CIRM-Funded Clinical Trials Targeting Cancers

CIRM Board Appoints Dr. Maria Millan as President and CEO

Yesterday was a big day for CIRM. Our governing Board convened for its September ICOC meeting and appointed Dr. Maria Millan as our new President and CEO. Dr. Millan has been serving as the Interim President/CEO since July, replacing former President Dr. Randal Mills. Dr. Millan has been at CIRM since 2012 and was instrumental … Continue reading CIRM Board Appoints Dr. Maria Millan as President and CEO

UCLA launches CIRM-funded clinical trial using engineered blood stem cells to fight hard-to-treat cancers

It’s not uncommon for biomedical institutes as well as their funding partners to announce through press releases that a clinical trial they’re running has gotten off the ground and has started to enroll patients. For an outsider looking in, it may seem like they’re jumping the gun a bit. No patients have received the therapy. … Continue reading UCLA launches CIRM-funded clinical trial using engineered blood stem cells to fight hard-to-treat cancers

Hearts and brains are center stage at CIRM Patient Advocate event

Describing the work of a government agency is not the most exciting of topics. Books on the subject would probably be found in the “Self-help for Insomniacs” section of a good bookstore (there are still some around). But at CIRM we are fortunate. When we talk about what we do, we don’t talk about the … Continue reading Hearts and brains are center stage at CIRM Patient Advocate event