How retinitis pigmentosa erodes normal vision The failure rate for clinical trials is depressingly high. A study from Tufts University in 2010 found that for small molecules – the substances that make up more than 90 percent of the drugs on the market today – the odds of getting from a Phase 1 trial to … Continue reading CIRM-funded stem cell clinical trial for retinitis pigmentosa focuses on next stage
Retinitis pigmentosa
From flies to mice: Improving stem cell therapy for degenerative eye diseases
Stem cell therapies for degenerative eye diseases sound promising – inject retinal progenitor cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells into the eye where they will integrate and replace damaged retinal tissue to hopefully restore sight. However, a significant road block is preventing these stem cell transplants from doing their job: the transplanted cells are … Continue reading From flies to mice: Improving stem cell therapy for degenerative eye diseases
Multi-Talented Stem Cells: The Many Ways to Use Them in the Clinic
CIRM kicked off the 2016 International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Conference in San Francisco with a public stem cell event yesterday that brought scientists, patients, patient advocates and members of the general public together to discuss the many ways stem cells are being used in the clinic to develop treatments for patients with … Continue reading Multi-Talented Stem Cells: The Many Ways to Use Them in the Clinic
A visual guide on using stem cells to treat blindness
Some stories are so sweet or powerful or wonderful - or all three - that they just stick in your mind. About 18 months ago Rosalinda and German Barrero came to talk to the CIRM Board about retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a devastating genetic disease that slowly destroys a person’s vision. Contrary to what everyone expected … Continue reading A visual guide on using stem cells to treat blindness
Rare Disease Day, a chance to raise awareness and hope.
Battling a deadly disease like cancer or Alzheimer’s is difficult; but battling a rare and deadly disease is doubly so. At least with common diseases there is a lot of research seeking to develop new treatments. With rare diseases there is often very little research, and so there are fewer options for treatment. Even just … Continue reading Rare Disease Day, a chance to raise awareness and hope.
From Science Fiction to Science Fact: Gene Editing May Make Personalized Therapies for Blindness
Have you seen the movie Elysium? It’s a 2013 futuristic science fiction film starring one of my favorite actors Matt Damon. The plot centers on the economic, social and political disparities between two very different worlds: one, an overpopulated earth where people are poor, starving, and have little access to technology or medical care, the … Continue reading From Science Fiction to Science Fact: Gene Editing May Make Personalized Therapies for Blindness
National honor for helping “the blind see”
Those of us fortunate to have good health take so many things for granted, not the least of which is our ability to see. But, according to the World Health Organization, there are 39 million people worldwide who are blind, and another 246 million who are visually impaired. Any therapy, any device, that can help … Continue reading National honor for helping “the blind see”
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
Da Mayor and the clinical trial that could help save his vision
Former San Francisco Mayor and California State Assembly Speaker Willie Brown is many things, but shy is not one of them. A profile of him in the San Francisco Chronicle once described him as “Brash, smart, confident”. But for years Da Mayor – as he is fondly known in The City – said very little … Continue reading Da Mayor and the clinical trial that could help save his vision
The Stem Cellar 