Here are some stem cell stories that caught our eye this past week. Some are groundbreaking science, others are of personal interest to us, and still others are just fun. Two-week embryos grabbed headlines. I have rarely seen as many online news outlets pick up a basic science story as happened this week with the … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: two-week old embryos in the lab, gene edited disease model, recipe for bone and cancer milestone
Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s and the Inflamed Brain: Their Links Run Deeper than Thought
Given that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a brain disorder and the leading cause of dementia, it seems logical to assume that some sort of breakdown in the connections of the brain’s nerve cells is mostly to blame. But based on an increasing volume of research, it turns out that our immune system is also closely … Continue reading Alzheimer’s and the Inflamed Brain: Their Links Run Deeper than Thought
CIRM Scholar Spotlight: Berkeley’s Maroof Adil on stem cell transplants for Parkinson’s disease
Stem cell therapy has a lot of potential for Parkinson’s patients and the scientists that study it. One of our very own CIRM scholars, Maroof Adil, is making it his mission to develop stem cell based therapies to treat brain degenerating diseases like Parkinson’s. Maroof got his undergraduate degrees from MIT in both Chemical Engineering … Continue reading CIRM Scholar Spotlight: Berkeley’s Maroof Adil on stem cell transplants for Parkinson’s disease
Could We Reverse Alzheimer’s Disease with Stem Cells?
What if you could give people whose memories have been stolen the ability to remember again? I’m talking about curing a population of more than 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) – not a small task. Unfortunately, this number is predicted to more than triple by 2050, and with it so will healthcare … Continue reading Could We Reverse Alzheimer’s Disease with Stem Cells?
CIRM Scholar Helen Fong on Stem Cells and Brain Disease
Meet another one of our talented CIRM Scholars, Helen Fong. She is currently a Research Scientist at the Gladstone Institutes and did her graduate work at the University of California, Irvine. Her passions include stem cells, disease modeling, and playing with differentiation protocols – the processes that tell stem cells to mature into specific tissues. … Continue reading CIRM Scholar Helen Fong on Stem Cells and Brain Disease
Keeping elderly cells old to understand the aging process
Aging is a key risk factor for many diseases, particularly disorders of the brain like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, which primarily occur in the elderly. So a better understanding of the aging process should provide a better understanding of these neurodegenerative diseases. The induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technique makes it possible to grow human brain … Continue reading Keeping elderly cells old to understand the aging process
The Stem Cell Bank is open for business
When you go to a bank and withdraw money you know that the notes you get are all going to look the same and do the same job, namely allow you to buy things. But when you get stem cells for research that’s not necessarily the case. Stem cells bought from different laboratories don’t always … Continue reading The Stem Cell Bank is open for business
What’s Fat Got to do With Alzheimer’s?
Diets these days are a dime a dozen, and dietary trends come and go. First eggs were “out” because they contain cholesterol, but now they are back “in” because we now know that some types of cholesterol can be actually good for the body. Then there was the era of “fat-free” or “reduced-fat” foods. This … Continue reading What’s Fat Got to do With Alzheimer’s?
Cell mate: the man who makes stem cells for clinical trials
When we announced that one of the researchers we fund - Dr. Henry Klassen at the University of California, Irvine - has begun his clinical trial to treat the vision-destroying disease retinitis pigmentosa, we celebrated the excitement felt by the researchers and the hope from people with the disease. But we missed out one group. … Continue reading Cell mate: the man who makes stem cells for clinical trials
Alzheimer’s Nightmare Spurs Comedy Fundraiser to Help Caregivers – New Video
You could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium. The audience of young stem cell researchers was gripped by every word of Lauren Miller’s heartbreaking story about the impact that Alzheimer’s disease has had on her family. Only a child when her grandfather was diagnosed with and later died of Alzheimer’s, she mistook his symptoms, … Continue reading Alzheimer’s Nightmare Spurs Comedy Fundraiser to Help Caregivers – New Video
The Stem Cellar 