Welcome to the Month of CIRM! As we mentioned in last Thursday’s blog, during the month of October we’ll be looking back at what CIRM has done since the agency was created by the people of California back in 2004. To start things off, we’ll be focusing on CIRM-funded clinical trials this week. Supporting clinical … Continue reading CIRM-Funded Clinical Trials Targeting Cancers
CIRM funded research
An unexpected link: immune cells send muscle injury signal to activate stem cell regeneration
We’ve written many blogs over the years about research focused on muscle stem cell function . Those stories describe how satellite cells, another name for muscle stem cells, lay dormant but jump into action to grow new muscle cells in response to injury and damage. And when satellite function breaks down with aging as well as … Continue reading An unexpected link: immune cells send muscle injury signal to activate stem cell regeneration
Stem Cell Stories That Caught Our Eye: Halting Brain Cancer, Parkinson’s disease and Stem Cell Awareness Day
Stopping brain cancer in its tracks. Scientists at Stanford Medicine discovered that you can halt aggressive brain cancers called high-grade gliomas by cutting off their supply of a signaling protein called neuroligin-3. Their research, which was funded by CIRM and the NIH, was published this week in the journal Nature. The Stanford team, led by … Continue reading Stem Cell Stories That Caught Our Eye: Halting Brain Cancer, Parkinson’s disease and Stem Cell Awareness Day
UCLA scientists begin a journey to restore the sense of touch in paralyzed patients
Yesterday, CIRM-funded scientists at UCLA published an interesting study that sheds light on the development of sensory neurons, a type of nerve cell that is damaged in patients with spinal cord injury. Their early-stage findings could potentially, down the road, lead to the development of stem cell-based treatments that rebuild the sensory nervous system in … Continue reading UCLA scientists begin a journey to restore the sense of touch in paralyzed patients
CIRM-funded scientists discover a new way to make stem cells using antibodies
Just as learning a new skill takes time to hone, scientific discoveries take time to perfect. Such is the case with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), the Nobel Prize winning technology that reprograms mature adult cells back into a pluripotent stem cell state. iPSCs are a powerful tool because they can develop into any cell … Continue reading CIRM-funded scientists discover a new way to make stem cells using antibodies
UCLA launches CIRM-funded clinical trial using engineered blood stem cells to fight hard-to-treat cancers
It’s not uncommon for biomedical institutes as well as their funding partners to announce through press releases that a clinical trial they’re running has gotten off the ground and has started to enroll patients. For an outsider looking in, it may seem like they’re jumping the gun a bit. No patients have received the therapy. … Continue reading UCLA launches CIRM-funded clinical trial using engineered blood stem cells to fight hard-to-treat cancers
From trauma to treatment: a Patient Advocate’s journey from helping her son battle a deadly disease to helping others do the same
For every clinical trial CIRM funds we create a Clinical Advisory Panel or CAP. The purpose of the CAP is to make recommendations and provide guidance and advice to both CIRM and the Project Team running the trial. It’s part of our commitment to doing everything we can to help make the trial a success … Continue reading From trauma to treatment: a Patient Advocate’s journey from helping her son battle a deadly disease to helping others do the same
Extra dose of patience needed for spinal cord injury stem cell therapies, rat study suggests
2017 has been an exciting year for Asterias Biotherapeutics’ clinical trial which is testing a stem cell-based therapy for spinal cord injury. We’ve written several stories about patients who have made remarkable recoveries after participating in the trial (here and here). But that doesn’t mean researchers at other companies or institutes who are also investigating spinal … Continue reading Extra dose of patience needed for spinal cord injury stem cell therapies, rat study suggests
Stem cell treatment helps puppies born with spina bifida walk again
Just when you thought puppies couldn’t get any cuter, this video appears in your twitter feed. These adorable English bulldog puppies are named Darla and Spanky, and they were born with a birth defect called spina bifida where the bones and tissue surrounding the spinal cord fail to fuse completely. Spina bifida occurs in 1500-2000 … Continue reading Stem cell treatment helps puppies born with spina bifida walk again
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: bubble baby therapy a go in UK, in-utero stem cell trial and novel heart disease target
There were lots of CIRM mentions in the news this week. Here are two brief recaps written by Karen Ring to get you up to speed. A third story by Todd Dubnicoff summarizes an promising finding related to heart disease by researchers in Singapore. CIRM-funded “bubble baby” disease therapy gets special designation by UK. … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: bubble baby therapy a go in UK, in-utero stem cell trial and novel heart disease target
The Stem Cellar 