Every year California performs around 100 kidney transplants in children but, on average, around 50 of these patients will have their body reject the transplant. These children then have to undergo regular dialysis while waiting for a new organ. Even the successful transplants require a lifetime of immunosuppression medications. These medications can prevent rejection but … Continue reading Making transplants easier for kids, and charting a new approach to fighting solid tumors.
Cancer
Myocarditis in Cancer Patients Is Driven by Specific Immune Cells
In a new study, researchers from UC San Francisco and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have identified specific immune cells that cause a potentially lethal heart inflammation -called myocarditis- in a small fraction of patients treated with powerful cancer immunotherapy drugs. Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle. It can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, … Continue reading Myocarditis in Cancer Patients Is Driven by Specific Immune Cells
Dr. Deborah Deas and Ysabel Duron recognized for their contributions to advancing public health
Dr. Deborah Deas The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has two reasons to celebrate today. Earlier this month, Dr. Deborah Deas was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine, or NAM. Membership in the academy is one of the highest national honors in health and medicine. Dr. Deas is the vice … Continue reading Dr. Deborah Deas and Ysabel Duron recognized for their contributions to advancing public health
CIRM Board Approves Funding for New Clinical Trial Targeting Brain Tumors
The governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded almost $12 million to carry out a clinical trial targeting brain tumors. This brings the total number of CIRM funded clinical trials to 83. $11,999,984 was awarded to Dr. Jana Portnow at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope. They are using Neural stem … Continue reading CIRM Board Approves Funding for New Clinical Trial Targeting Brain Tumors
Developing a natural killer for cancer
Lili Yang UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center: Photo courtesy Reed Hutchinson PhotoGraphics When Lili Yang was studying for her PhD she approached her mentor, the Nobel Laureate Dr. David Baltimore, and told him she was thinking about writing her thesis on a combination of gene therapy, immunotherapy and stem cell therapy. She says he … Continue reading Developing a natural killer for cancer
Strength forged from adversity
Regina Karchner - Photo courtesy Nancy Ramos Photography Our 2021-22 Annual Report is now online. It’s filled with information about the work we have done over the last year (we are on a fiscal calendar year from July 1 – June 30), the people who have helped us do that work, and some of the … Continue reading Strength forged from adversity
A better, faster, more effective way to edit genes
Clinical fellow Brian Shy talks with postdoctoral scholar Tori Yamamoto in the Marson Lab at Gladstone Institutes on June 8th, 2022. Photo courtesy Gladstone Institutes. For years scientists have been touting the potential of CRISPR, a gene editing tool that allows you to target a specific mutation and either cut it out or replace it … Continue reading A better, faster, more effective way to edit genes
How CIRM contributed to City of Hope study helping man with HIV into long-term remission
The news that a stem cell transplant at City of Hope helped a man with HIV go into long-term remission made banner headlines around the world. As it should. It’s a huge achievement, particularly as the 66-year-old man had been living with HIV since 1988. What wasn’t reported was that work supported by the California … Continue reading How CIRM contributed to City of Hope study helping man with HIV into long-term remission
Stem Cell Agency Board Invests in 19 Discovery Research Programs Targeting Cancers, Heart Disease and Other Disorders
THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST Dr. Judy Shizuru, Stanford University While stem cell and gene therapy research has advanced dramatically in recent years, there are still many unknowns and many questions remaining about how best to use these approaches in developing therapies. That’s why the governing Board of the California Institute … Continue reading Stem Cell Agency Board Invests in 19 Discovery Research Programs Targeting Cancers, Heart Disease and Other Disorders
Join us to hear how stem cell and gene therapy are taking on diseases of aging
It is estimated that as many as 90 percent of people in industrialized countries who die every day, die from diseases of aging such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Of those still alive the numbers aren’t much more reassuring. More than 80 percent of people over the age of 65 have a chronic medical … Continue reading Join us to hear how stem cell and gene therapy are taking on diseases of aging