Can stem cells help people recover from a stroke? Join us for a Facebook Live event this Thursday, May 31 for the answers

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death in the US and the leading cause of serious, long-term disability. But could stem cell therapies change that and help people who’ve had a brain attack?  Could stem cells help repair the damage caused by a stroke and restore a person’s ability to speak normally, to … Continue reading Can stem cells help people recover from a stroke? Join us for a Facebook Live event this Thursday, May 31 for the answers

Stem Cell Roundup: Jake Javier’s amazing spirit; TV report highlights clinic offering unproven stem cell therapies

In the Roundup we usually focus on studies that highlight advances in stem cell research but today we’re going to do something a little different. Instead of relying on print for our stories, we’re turning to video. We begin with a piece about Jake Javier. Regular readers of our blog will remember that Jake is … Continue reading Stem Cell Roundup: Jake Javier’s amazing spirit; TV report highlights clinic offering unproven stem cell therapies

CIRM invests in stem cell clinical trial targeting lung cancer and promising research into osteoporosis and incontinence

The five-year survival rate for people diagnosed with the most advanced stage of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is pretty grim, only between one and 10 percent. To address this devastating condition, the Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) today voted to invest almost $12 million in a team from UCLA that … Continue reading CIRM invests in stem cell clinical trial targeting lung cancer and promising research into osteoporosis and incontinence

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

Stem Cell Roundup: Protein shows promise in treating deadliest form of breast cancer: mosquito spit primes our body for disease

Triple negative breast cancer is more aggressive and difficult to treat than other forms of the disease and, as a result, is more likely to spread throughout the body and to recur after treatment. Now a team at the University of Southern California have identified a protein that could help change that. The research, published … Continue reading Stem Cell Roundup: Protein shows promise in treating deadliest form of breast cancer: mosquito spit primes our body for disease

A scalable, clinic-friendly recipe for converting skin cells to muscle cells

Way back in 1987, about two decades before Shinya Yamanaka would go on to identify four proteins that can reprogram skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), Harold Weintraub’s lab identified the first “master control” protein, MyoD, which can directly convert a skin cell into a muscle cell. Though MyoD opened up new approaches … Continue reading A scalable, clinic-friendly recipe for converting skin cells to muscle cells

‘Ask The Expert’ on Facebook Live about the power of stem cells to reverse damage caused by a stroke.

It’s not often you get a chance to ask a world class stem cell expert a question about their work, and how it might help you or someone you love. But on Thursday, May 31 you can do just that. CIRM is hosting a special ‘Ask the Expert’ event on Facebook Live. The topic is … Continue reading ‘Ask The Expert’ on Facebook Live about the power of stem cells to reverse damage caused by a stroke.

Coming up with a stem cell FIX for a life-threatening blood disorder

A promising new treatment option for hemophiliacs is in the works at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences. Patients with Hemophilia B experience uncontrolled, and sometimes life threatening, bleeding due to loss or improper function of Factor IX (FIX), a protein involved in blood clotting. There is no cure for the disease and patients rely … Continue reading Coming up with a stem cell FIX for a life-threatening blood disorder

Stem Cell Agency’s supporting role in advancing research for rare diseases

The recent agreement transferring GSK’s rare disease gene therapies to Orchard Therapeutics was good news for both companies and for the patients who are hoping this research could lead to new treatments, even cures, for some rare diseases. It was also good news for CIRM, which played a key role in helping Orchard grow to … Continue reading Stem Cell Agency’s supporting role in advancing research for rare diseases

Stem Cell Roundup: better model of schizophrenia, fasting boosts stem cells, and why does our hair gray.

Stem cell photo of the week: Recreating brain cell interactions for studying schizophrenia Our pick for the stem cell image of the week is from the laboratory of Rusty Gage at the Salk Institute. The team generated multiple types of nerve cells from stem cells to more closely represent the interactions that occur in the … Continue reading Stem Cell Roundup: better model of schizophrenia, fasting boosts stem cells, and why does our hair gray.