A program hoping to supercharge a patient’s own immune system cells to attack and kill a treatment resistant form of prostate cancer was today awarded $3.99 million by the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) In the U.S., prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in men. … Continue reading Research Targeting Prostate Cancer Gets Almost $4 Million Support from CIRM
Discovery Research
Starving stem cells of oxygen can help build stronger bones
We usually think that starving something of oxygen is going to make it weaker and maybe even kill it. But a new study by J. Kent Leach at UC Davis shows that instead of weakening bone defects, depriving them of oxygen might help boost their ability to create new bone or repair existing bone. Leach … Continue reading Starving stem cells of oxygen can help build stronger bones
For the first time, scientists entirely reprogram human skin cells to iPSCs using CRISPR
Back in 2012, Shinya Yamanaka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his group’s identification of “Yamanaka Factors,” a group of genes that are capable of turning ordinary skin cells into induced pluripotentent stem cells (iPSCs) which have the ability to become any type of cell within the body. Discovery of iPSCs … Continue reading For the first time, scientists entirely reprogram human skin cells to iPSCs using CRISPR
Stem cell gene therapy combination could help children battling a rare genetic disorder
Hunter syndrome is devastating. It’s caused by a single enzyme, IDS, that is either missing or malfunctioning. Without the enzyme the body is unable to break down complex sugar molecules and as those build up they cause permanent, progressive damage to the body and brain and, in some instances, result in severe mental disabilities. There … Continue reading Stem cell gene therapy combination could help children battling a rare genetic disorder
“Junk” DNA is development gold for the dividing embryo
The DNA in our cells provide the instructions to make proteins, the workhorses of our body. Yet less than 2% of the 3 billion base pairs (the structural units of DNA) in each of our cells are actually involved in protein production. The rest, termed non-coding DNA for not being involved in protein production, has … Continue reading “Junk” DNA is development gold for the dividing embryo
Fish umbrellas and human bone: protecting blood stem cells from the sun’s UV rays
Most people probably do not question the fact that human blood stem cells – those that give rise to all the cells in our blood – live inside the marrow of our bones, called a stem cell “niche”. But it is pretty odd when you stop to think about it. I mean, it makes sense … Continue reading Fish umbrellas and human bone: protecting blood stem cells from the sun’s UV rays
Stem Cell Roundup: Protein shows promise in treating deadliest form of breast cancer: mosquito spit primes our body for disease
Triple negative breast cancer is more aggressive and difficult to treat than other forms of the disease and, as a result, is more likely to spread throughout the body and to recur after treatment. Now a team at the University of Southern California have identified a protein that could help change that. The research, published … Continue reading Stem Cell Roundup: Protein shows promise in treating deadliest form of breast cancer: mosquito spit primes our body for disease
Coming up with a stem cell FIX for a life-threatening blood disorder
A promising new treatment option for hemophiliacs is in the works at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences. Patients with Hemophilia B experience uncontrolled, and sometimes life threatening, bleeding due to loss or improper function of Factor IX (FIX), a protein involved in blood clotting. There is no cure for the disease and patients rely … Continue reading Coming up with a stem cell FIX for a life-threatening blood disorder
A road trip to the Inland Empire highlights a hot bed of stem cell research
It took us longer than it should have to pay a visit to California’s Inland Empire, but it was definitely worth the wait. Yesterday CIRM’s Roadshow went to the University of California at Riverside (UCR) to talk to the community there – both scientific and public – about the work we are funding and the … Continue reading A road trip to the Inland Empire highlights a hot bed of stem cell research
Stem cell study holds out promise for kidney disease
Kidney failure is the Rodney Dangerfield of diseases, it really doesn’t get the respect it deserves. An estimated 660,000 Americans suffer from kidney failure and around 47,000 people die from it every year. That’s more than die from breast or prostate cancer. But now a new study has identified a promising stem cell candidate that … Continue reading Stem cell study holds out promise for kidney disease
The Stem Cellar 