Antibody to make stem cells safer: There is an old Chinese proverb that states: ‘What seems like a blessing could be a curse’. In some ways that proverb could apply to stem cells. For example, pluripotent stem cells have the extraordinary ability to turn into many other kinds of cells, giving researchers a tool to … Continue reading Stories that caught our eye: An antibody that could make stem cell research safer; scientists prepare for clinical trial for Parkinson’s disease; and the stem cell scientist running for Congress
Clinical Trials
Nine months in, stem cell-based therapy for spinal cord injury continues to improve paralyzed patients’ lives
If you’ve been following the Stem Cellar blog this year, then you must be as encouraged as we are with Asterias Biotherapeutics’ CIRM-funded clinical trial, which is testing an embryonic stem cell-based therapy for spinal cord injury. Over many months, we’ve covered the company’s string of positive announcements that their cell therapy product – called … Continue reading Nine months in, stem cell-based therapy for spinal cord injury continues to improve paralyzed patients’ lives
Throwback Thursday: Progress to a Cure for Diseases of Blindness
Welcome back 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. This month we’re featuring stories about CIRM-funded clinical trials for blindness. 2017 has been an exciting year for two CIRM-funded clinical trials that … Continue reading Throwback Thursday: Progress to a Cure for Diseases of Blindness
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: brains, brains and more brains!
This week we bring you three separate stories about the brain. Two are exciting new advances that use stem cells to understand the brain and the third is plain creepy. Bioengineering better brains. Lab grown mini-brains got an upgrade thanks to a study published this week in Nature Biotechnology. Mini-brains are tiny 3D organs that … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: brains, brains and more brains!
“A limitless future”: young crash victim regains hand, finger movement after CIRM-funded trial
Back in March, we reported on Asterias Biotherapeutics’ exciting press release stating that its CIRM-funded stem cell-based therapy for spinal cord injury had shown improvement in six out of the six clinical trial patients receiving a ten million cell dose. What’s even more exciting is hearing stories about the positive impact of that data on … Continue reading “A limitless future”: young crash victim regains hand, finger movement after CIRM-funded trial
ViaCyte Advances Cell Replacement Therapy for High Risk Type 1 Diabetes
San Diego regenerative medicine company ViaCyte announced this week that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved their Investigational New Drug (IND) Application for PEC-Direct, a cell-based therapy to treat patients at risk for severe complications caused by type 1 diabetes. In the US, IND approval is the final regulatory step required before a therapy … Continue reading ViaCyte Advances Cell Replacement Therapy for High Risk Type 1 Diabetes
Texas tries to go it alone in offering unproven stem cell therapies to patients
One of the most hotly debated topics in stem cell research is whether patients should be able to have easier access to unproven therapies using their own stem cells, at their own risk, and their own cost. It’s a debate that is dividing patients and physicians, researchers and lawmakers. In California, a bill working its … Continue reading Texas tries to go it alone in offering unproven stem cell therapies to patients
Positively good news from Asterias for CIRM-funded stem cell clinical trial for spinal cord injury
Whenever I give a talk on stem cells one of the questions I invariably get asked is “how do you know the cells are going where you want them to and doing what you want them to?” The answer is pretty simple: you look. That’s what Asterias Biotherapeutics did in their clinical trial to treat … Continue reading Positively good news from Asterias for CIRM-funded stem cell clinical trial for spinal cord injury
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
jCyte gets FDA go-ahead for Fast Track review process of Retinitis Pigmentosa stem cell therapy
When the US Congress approved, and President Obama signed into law, the 21st Century Cures Act last year there was guarded optimism that this would help create a more efficient and streamlined, but no less safe, approval process for the most promising stem cell therapies. Even so many people took a wait and see approach, … Continue reading jCyte gets FDA go-ahead for Fast Track review process of Retinitis Pigmentosa stem cell therapy
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