THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST Left to right: Lindsay Hinck and Camilla Forsberg UC Santa Cruz professors Camilla Forsberg and Lindsay Hinck are not only pushing boundaries in their field as the female-led program directors of the Institute for the Biology of Stem Cells (IBSC), they’ve also been looking for ways … Continue reading IBSC directors bring in nearly $12 million to fund the future of bimolecular research at UC Santa Cruz
Ethics and Policy
Making stem cell and gene therapies available and affordable for all California patients
THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST Developing a new therapy: Photo courtesy UCLA There is no benefit in helping create a miraculous new therapy that can cure people and save lives if no one except the super-rich can afford it. That’s why the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has made creating … Continue reading Making stem cell and gene therapies available and affordable for all California patients
Sharing ideas and data to advance regenerative medicine
THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST If Kindergarten kids can learn to share why can't scientists? When I was a kid, we were always told to share our toys. It was a good way of teaching children the importance of playing nice with the other kids and avoiding conflicts. Those same virtues … Continue reading Sharing ideas and data to advance regenerative medicine
Lack of diversity leaves cloud hanging over asthma drug study
Asthma spacer, photo courtesy Wiki Media Creative Commons THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST If you want to know if a new drug or therapy is going to work in the people it affects the most you need to test the drug or therapy in the people most affected by the disease. … Continue reading Lack of diversity leaves cloud hanging over asthma drug study
Creating a New Model for Diversity in Scientific and Medical Research
THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST Nature Cell Biology cover The global pandemic has highlighted many of the inequities in our health care system, with the virus hitting communities of color the hardest. That has led to calls for greater diversity, equity and inclusion at every level of scientific research and, ultimately, … Continue reading Creating a New Model for Diversity in Scientific and Medical Research
We’ve got cash, here’s how you can get some
When the voters of California approved Proposition 14 last November (thanks folks) they gave us $5.5 billion to continue the work we started way back in 2014. It’s a great honor, and a great responsibility. It’s also a great opportunity to look at what we do and how we do it and try to come … Continue reading We’ve got cash, here’s how you can get some
Physicians and patient advocates on the front lines of the fight for a more equitable health system
Over the last year there has been increasing awareness of the inequalities in the American healthcare system. At every level there is evidence of bias, discrimination and unequal access to the best care. Sometimes unequal access to any care. That is, hopefully, changing but only if the new awareness is matched with action. At the … Continue reading Physicians and patient advocates on the front lines of the fight for a more equitable health system
Call for a worldwide approach to regulating predatory stem cell clinics
You can’t fix a global problem at the local level. That’s the gist of a new perspective piece in the journal Stem Cell Reports that calls for a global approach to rogue stem cell clinics that offer bogus therapies. The authors of the article are calling on the World Health Organization (WHO) to set up … Continue reading Call for a worldwide approach to regulating predatory stem cell clinics
Regulated, Reputable and Reliable: FDA’s Taking Additional Steps to Advance Safe and Effective Regenerative Medicine Products
Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research In February 2020, CIRM presented a series of benchmarks for the responsible delivery of stem cell and regenerative medicine products. These benchmarks are outlined in the publication Regulated, reliable and reputable: Protect patients with uniform standards for stem cell treatments. In a nutshell, CIRM … Continue reading Regulated, Reputable and Reliable: FDA’s Taking Additional Steps to Advance Safe and Effective Regenerative Medicine Products
Tipping our hat to the good guys (& gals)
A search on Google using the term “stem cell blogs” quickly produces a host of sites offering treatments for everything from ankle, hip and knee problems, to Parkinson’s disease and asthma. Amazingly the therapies for those very different conditions all use the same kind of cells produced in the same way. It’s like magic. Sadly, … Continue reading Tipping our hat to the good guys (& gals)
The Stem Cellar 