For a long time, the team of scientists was in shock: in just two weeks they had transformed mice that could not walk—into mice that could. In the latest issue of Stem Cell Reports, available online today, scientists from the University of Utah and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, have reversed the … Continue reading New Lease on Legs: Stem Cell Treatment Gives Mice with MS-Like Condition Ability to Walk
Disease Areas
Stem cell techniques yield new clues to the origins of schizophrenia
Although the word “schizophrenia” was coined over 100 years ago, scientists are still stumped by what causes this severe brain disorder, which afflicts an estimated three million Americans and presents a financial burden of $63 billion each year. People with schizophrenia suffer debilitating delusional and hallucinatory symptoms, such as hearing voices or believing that tragedy … Continue reading Stem cell techniques yield new clues to the origins of schizophrenia
Guest blogger Alan Trounson — April’s stem cell research highlights
Each month CIRM President Alan Trounson gives his perspective on recently published papers he thinks will be valuable in moving the field of stem cell research forward. This month’s report, along with an archive of past reports, is available on the CIRM website. This month’s report includes an important review of studies using bone marrow … Continue reading Guest blogger Alan Trounson — April’s stem cell research highlights
Behind the Bench: One Student’s Mission to Fight Ataxia
Jackie Ward is a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and former CIRM trainee. At UCSD uses stem cells as a model to study rare neurodegenerative diseases in the lab of Albert La Spada. My work as a PhD student focuses on a rare form of inherited neurodegeneration called spinocerebellar ataxia. … Continue reading Behind the Bench: One Student’s Mission to Fight Ataxia
Modeling Heart Disease: This Time on a Chip
Scientists at Harvard University have developed a new way to model congenital heart disease. Though researchers have previously generated heart cells derived from patients in a petri dish, this time scientists did so with groundbreaking ‘organ-on-a-chip’ technology—proving that this new type of technology can replicate a genetic disorder in the lab. The research, which was … Continue reading Modeling Heart Disease: This Time on a Chip
The Secret to Mending a Broken Heart
When someone suffers a heart attack, part of the heart’s muscle cells are deprived of oxygen and die. They become encased in scar tissue. And they don’t come back. A top priority among researchers, therefore, has been finding a way to grownew heart muscle. But the heart is a complex organ, and even as research … Continue reading The Secret to Mending a Broken Heart
Immune System “Double Agent” Fuels Colon Cancer Stem Cells, New Study Finds
Researchers have discovered that a type of cell normally tasked with defending the body against foreign invaders actually spurs the development of colon cancer stem cells. This discovery, published in the journal Immunity, offers new insight into why some forms of cancer come back again and again—even in the face of aggressive treatment. Led by … Continue reading Immune System “Double Agent” Fuels Colon Cancer Stem Cells, New Study Finds
Chris Furbee’s Autobiographical Huntington’s disease film wins Slamdance Film Fest Award
Huntington's Dance interview subject Gene Furbee (L) and film director Chris Furbee Did you hear that loud cheer last Friday morning? Maybe your floor shook a little bit? That was the CIRM staff celebrating a big win for Huntington’s disease (HD) patient advocate Chris Furbee and the HD community in general. This past week, Chris’ … Continue reading Chris Furbee’s Autobiographical Huntington’s disease film wins Slamdance Film Fest Award
Hope for treating heart disease with stem cells?
It's a big day for announcing prizes to CIRM grantee, and a good week for stem cells in heart disease. CIRM scholar Li Qian from The Gladstone Institutes won the Louis N. and Arnold M. Katz Basic Science Research Prize for Young Investigators from the American Heart Association (AHA). Hers was one of several announcements … Continue reading Hope for treating heart disease with stem cells?
Purified heart cells from human embryonic stem cells
Earlier this week, a team from South San Fransisco-based VistaGen and Toronto's McEwen Centre published a paper in the October 23, 2011 Nature Biotechnology that could have important consequences for efforts to repair heart attack damage with stem cells. VistaGen has a CIRM Tools & Technologies award, though that award did not fund the work … Continue reading Purified heart cells from human embryonic stem cells
The Stem Cellar 