Some of the stars of our Annual Report It’s been a long time coming. Eighteen months to be precise. Which is a peculiarly long time for an Annual Report. The world is certainly a very different place today than when we started, and yet our core mission hasn’t changed at all, except to spring into … Continue reading Perseverance: from theory to therapy. Our story over the last year – and a half
Food and Drug Administration
A new voice and vision added to CIRM Board
UC Davis School of Medicine Dean, Dr. Allison Brashear: Photo courtesy UCD We have a new member on the CIRM Board – Dr. Allison Brashear is the Dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine, overseeing one of the nation’s top research, academic and medical training institutions. Dr. Brashear is an internationally known researcher in … Continue reading A new voice and vision added to CIRM Board
Encouraging news for treatment targeting retinitis pigmentosa
While most people probably wouldn’t put 2020 in their list of favorite years, it’s certainly turning out to be a good one for jCyte. Earlier this year jCyte entered into a partnership with global ophthalmology company Santen Pharmaceuticals worth up to $252 million. Then earlier this week they announced some encouraging results from their Phase … Continue reading Encouraging news for treatment targeting retinitis pigmentosa
Four teaspoons could save a life
Sometimes it’s the smallest things that make the biggest difference. In the case of a clinical trial that CIRM is funding, all it takes to be part of it is four teaspoons of blood. The clinical trial is being run by Dr. John Zaia and his team at the City of Hope in Duarte, near … Continue reading Four teaspoons could save a life
Parkinson’s Disease and Stem Cells
Lila Collins, PhD A few weeks ago we held a Facebook Live "Ask the Stem Cell Team About Parkinson's Disease" event. As you can imagine we got lots of questions but, because of time constraints, only had time to answer a few. Thanks to my fabulous CIRM colleagues, Dr. Lila Collins and Dr. Kent Fitzgerald, … Continue reading Parkinson’s Disease and Stem Cells
Two rare diseases, two pieces of good news
Dr. Stephanie Cherqui Last week saw a flurry of really encouraging reports from projects that CIRM has supported. We blogged about two of them last Wednesday, but here’s another two programs showing promising results. UC San Diego researcher Dr. Stephanie Cherqui is running a CIRM-funded clinical trial for cystinosis. This is a condition where patients … Continue reading Two rare diseases, two pieces of good news
CIRM Board Approves Clinical Trials Targeting COVID-19 and Sickle Cell Disease
Coronavirus particles, illustration. Today the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) approved new clinical trials for COVID-19 and sickle cell disease (SCD) and two earlier stage projects to develop therapies for COVID-19. Dr. Michael Mathay, of the University of California at San Francisco, was awarded $750,000 for a clinical trial testing … Continue reading CIRM Board Approves Clinical Trials Targeting COVID-19 and Sickle Cell Disease
A clear vision for the future
Dr. Henry Klassen and Dr. Jing Yang, founders of jCyte When you have worked with a group of people over many years the relationship becomes more than just a business venture, it becomes personal. That's certainly the case with jCyte, a company founded by Drs. Henry Klassen and Jing Yang, aimed at finding a cure … Continue reading A clear vision for the future
Cashing in on COVID-19
Coronavirus particles, illustration. Courtesy KTSDesign/Science Photo Library As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, one of the few bright spots is how many researchers are stepping up and trying to find new ways to tackle it, to treat it and hopefully even cure it. Unfortunately, there are also those who are simply trying to cash … Continue reading Cashing in on COVID-19
An advocate’s support for CIRM’s COVID-19 funding
Patient Advocates play an important role in everything we do at the stem cell agency, helping inform all the decisions we make. So it was gratifying to hear from one of our Advocates par excellence, Adrienne Shapiro, about her support for our Board's decision to borrow $4.2 million from our Sickle Cell Cure fund to … Continue reading An advocate’s support for CIRM’s COVID-19 funding
The Stem Cellar 