THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIOCAST ON SPOTIFY Credit : Allison Dougherty, Broad Communications For Sharif Tabebordbar, finding a gene therapy for genetic muscle wasting diseases was personal. When he was a teenager, his father was diagnosed with a rare genetic muscle disease that eventually left him unable to walk. In an interview … Continue reading A personal reason to develop a better gene therapy
Bone/Muscle/Blood
A rare chance to help those in need
Recently the CIRM Board voted to support the creation of a Rare Disease Advisory Council (RDAC) in California. An RDAC is an advisory body providing a platform for the rare community to have a stronger voice in state government. They address the needs of rare patients and families by giving stakeholders an opportunity to make … Continue reading A rare chance to help those in need
Paving the Way
When someone scores a goal in soccer all the attention is lavished on them. Fans chant their name, their teammates pile on top in celebration, their agent starts calling sponsors asking for more money. But there’s often someone else deserving of praise too, that’s the player who provided the assist to make the goal possible … Continue reading Paving the Way
Unlocking a key behind why our bones get weaker as we age
Magnified image of a bone with osteoporosis. Photo Courtesy Sciencephoto.com Getting older brings with it a mixed bag of items. If you are lucky you can get wiser. If you are not so lucky you can get osteoporosis. But while scientists don’t know how to make you wiser, they have gained some new insights into … Continue reading Unlocking a key behind why our bones get weaker as we age
Surviving with Joy
Dr. Tippi MacKenzie (left) of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, visits with newborn Elianna and parents Nichelle Obar and Chris Constantino. Photo by Noah Berger Alpha thalassemia major is, by any stretch of the imagination, a dreadful, heart breaker of a disease. It's caused by four missing or mutated genes and it almost always … Continue reading Surviving with Joy
DNA therapeutic treats blood cancer in mice and begins human clinical trial
The left image represents a microscopic view of the bone marrow of a myeloma-bearing mouse treated with control, and the right image represents the same for a myeloma-bearing mouse treated with ION251, an experimental therapeutic. The red dots represent the IRF4 protein within human myeloma cells, which are much sparser after ION251 treatment. Image credit: … Continue reading DNA therapeutic treats blood cancer in mice and begins human clinical trial
CIRM-funded therapy to ease the impact of chemotherapy
Treatments for cancer have advanced a lot in recent years, but many still rely on the use of chemotherapy to either shrink tumors before surgery or help remove cancerous cells the surgery missed. The chemo can be very effective, but it’s also very toxic. Angiocrine Bioscience Inc. is developing a way to reduce those toxic … Continue reading CIRM-funded therapy to ease the impact of chemotherapy
CIRM Board Approves Four New Clinical Trials
A breakdown of CIRM's clinical trials by disease area This past Thursday the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) approved four new clinical trials in addition to ten new discovery research awards. These new awards bring the total number of CIRM-funded clinical trials to 68. Additionally, these new additions have allowed … Continue reading CIRM Board Approves Four New Clinical Trials
Cures, clinical trials and unmet medical needs
When you have a great story to tell there’s no shame in repeating it as often as you can. After all, not everyone gets to hear first time around. Or second or third time. So that’s why we wanted to give you another opportunity to tune into some of the great presentations and discussions at … Continue reading Cures, clinical trials and unmet medical needs
How stem cells are helping her win the fight of her life
We have all read about people who smoke a pack of cigarettes and drink a bottle of whiskey a day and somehow manage to live a long, healthy life. Then there are people like Sandra Dillon. She lived as healthy a life as you can imagine; she exercised a lot, ate a healthy diet and … Continue reading How stem cells are helping her win the fight of her life