What makes an expert an expert?

When we launched our Facebook Live “Ask the Expert” series earlier this year we wanted to create an opportunity for people to hear from and question experts about specific diseases or disorders. The experts we turned to were medical ones, neurologists and neuroscientists in the case of the first two Facebook Live events, stroke and … Continue reading What makes an expert an expert?

ALS is in the spotlight in CIRM’s “Ask the Expert About ALS & Stem Cells” Facebook Live event

American Football great Dwight Clark was renowned for having the safest hands in the game when he played for the San Francisco 49ers. But in September 2015 he was diagnosed with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) after not being able to use those hands to open a package of sugar. Less than three … Continue reading ALS is in the spotlight in CIRM’s “Ask the Expert About ALS & Stem Cells” Facebook Live event

Stem Cell Roundup: Artificial Embryos to Study Miscarriage and ALS Insight – Muscle Repair Cells Go Rogue

Stem Cell Image of the Week: Artificial embryos for studying miscarriage (Adonica Shaw) This week's stem cell image of the week comes from a team of researchers from The University of Cambridge who published research in Nature Cell Biology earlier this week indicating they’d achieved a breakthrough in stem cell research that resulted in the generation … Continue reading Stem Cell Roundup: Artificial Embryos to Study Miscarriage and ALS Insight – Muscle Repair Cells Go Rogue

Join us for our next installment of “Ask The Experts” on July 31st.

Join us for our second installment of “Ask the Expert” at 12pm, PST on July 31st! This live interactive event will feature a conversation between Drs. Clive Svendsen, Robert Baloh from Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Ralph Kern, the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer of Brainstorm Therapeutics, and CIRM Senior Science Officer Dr. Lila Collins. In … Continue reading Join us for our next installment of “Ask The Experts” on July 31st.

A Cowboys Fan’s Take on The Catch and Dwight Clark’s Passing Due to ALS

I grew up in Dallas in the 80’s. Needless to say, I was a diehard fan of the Dallas Cowboys National Football League (NFL) team and January 10, 1982 will forever be seared into my memory. Late in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys were leading the San Francisco 49ers 27-21 in the conference championship with … Continue reading A Cowboys Fan’s Take on The Catch and Dwight Clark’s Passing Due to ALS

Boosting immune system cells could offer a new approach to treating Lou Gehrig’s disease

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is one of those conditions that a lot of people know about but don’t know a lot about. If they are fortunate it will stay that way. ALS is a nasty neurodegenerative disease that attacks motor neurons, the cells in the brain and spinal cord … Continue reading Boosting immune system cells could offer a new approach to treating Lou Gehrig’s disease

Straight to brain: A better approach to ALS cell therapies?

Getting the go ahead to begin a clinical trial by no means marks an end to a research team’s laboratory studies. A clinical trial is merely one experiment and is designed to answer a specific set of questions about a specific course of treatment. There will inevitably be more questions to pursue back in the … Continue reading Straight to brain: A better approach to ALS cell therapies?

Stem Cell Roundup: Crafty Cancer, Fighting Viruses, and Brainstorm ALS Trial Expands to Canada

TGIF! Here is your weekly dose of stem cell news... Shapeshifting cancer cells This week’s awesome stem cell photo comes with a bizarre story and bonus video footage. Researchers at Duke University were studying lung tumor samples and discovered something that didn’t quite belong. Inside the lung tumors were miniature parts of the digestive system … Continue reading Stem Cell Roundup: Crafty Cancer, Fighting Viruses, and Brainstorm ALS Trial Expands to Canada

Tiny blood vessels in the brain can spur the growth of spinal motor neurons

Last week, researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center added a new piece to the complex puzzle of what causes neurodegenerative disorders like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The team discovered that the tiny blood vessels in our brains do more than provide nutrients to and remove waste products from our brain tissue. It turns out that these … Continue reading Tiny blood vessels in the brain can spur the growth of spinal motor neurons

Stem Cell Roundup: hESCs turn 20, tracking cancer stem cells, new ALS gene ID’d

Stem Cell Image of the Week This week’s stunning stem cell image is brought to you by researchers in the Brivanlou Lab at Rockefeller University. What looks like the center of a sunflower is actual a ball of neural rosettes derived from human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Neural rosettes are structures that contain neural stem … Continue reading Stem Cell Roundup: hESCs turn 20, tracking cancer stem cells, new ALS gene ID’d