Today, December 1st, is World AIDS Day. It's a day to acknowledge the progress that is being made in HIV prevention and treatment around the world but also to renew our commitment to a future free of HIV. This year's theme is Leadership. Commitment. Impact. At CIRM we are funding a number of projects focused … Continue reading Key Steps Along the Way To Finding Treatments for HIV on World AIDS Day
Genes + Cells
Genes+Cells: Stem cells deliver genes to make T cells resistant to HIV
This summer the first patients will be enrolled in a clinical trial using a form of genetic scissors to alter the DNA in their stem cells to give their immune systems a desired trait—resistance to HIV. The procedure will alter the patients’ blood-forming stem cells so that they can permanently make immune system T cells … Continue reading Genes+Cells: Stem cells deliver genes to make T cells resistant to HIV
One patient’s quest for something better
Antiretroviral therapy does a great job knocking down HIV in the body, look where it has gotten us! However, it’s not perfect and is not globally accessible with large segments of patients even in developed countries like the U.S. not receiving adequate therapy. I have been a big proponent of antiretroviral therapy, even though it … Continue reading One patient’s quest for something better
Genes + Cells: Stem Cells deliver genes as “drugs” & hope for ALS
This month a lab animal will become the initial patient in the final steps in Clive Svendsen’s 15-year quest to provide the first meaningful therapy for people with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. If that animal and subsequent ones in this required study have good results—no side effects from the treatment—Svendsen plans to … Continue reading Genes + Cells: Stem Cells deliver genes as “drugs” & hope for ALS
Thrust into ALS Advocacy
I have always had a fascination for medicine, and thanks to the Internet, I’ve become a tireless researcher. Having already faced breast cancer a decade ago, the only power I have ever felt over the adversity of a life-threatening illness is knowledge. When I was diagnosed in August 2014 with bulbar ALS, I had to … Continue reading Thrust into ALS Advocacy
Genes + Cells: Stem Cells Deliver Genetic Punch
Bad luck stalked the early years of gene therapy. The pioneering research revealed it is difficult to manipulate a patient’s genes both efficiently and safely. Today, after more than two decades of tireless labor in the lab, nearly 2,000 gene therapy trials have been conducted or are approved, with many of the most promising using … Continue reading Genes + Cells: Stem Cells Deliver Genetic Punch
The Stem Cellar 