Brenden Whittaker and his dog: Photo by Colin McGuire A few years ago, Brenden Whittaker was running out of time. Brenden was born with a rare condition called x-linked chronic granulomatous disease or XCGD. It meant he lacked a critical part of his immune system that protects against bacterial or fungal infections. Over 22 years … Continue reading Stem Cell/Gene Therapy combo heals patients battling rare disorder
CIRM News
Dashed Dreams and New Hope: A Quest to Cure Thymic Deficiency
By Kelly Shepard, PhD., CIRM's Associate Director, Discovery & Translation CIRM has previously blogged about advances in treating certain forms of “bubble baby” disease”, where a person is born with a defect in their blood forming stem cells that results in a deficient immune system, rendering them vulnerable to lethal infections by all manner of … Continue reading Dashed Dreams and New Hope: A Quest to Cure Thymic Deficiency
The Top CIRM Blogs of 2019
This year the most widely read blog was actually one we wrote back in 2018. It’s the transcript of a Facebook Live: “Ask the Stem Cell Team” event about strokes and stroke recovery. Because stroke is the third leading cause of death and disability in the US it’s probably no surprise this blog has lasting … Continue reading The Top CIRM Blogs of 2019
Facebook Live: Ask the Stem Cell Team
On December 12th we hosted our latest 'Facebook Live: Ask the Stem Cell Team' event. This time around we really did mean team. We had a host of our Science Officers answering questions from friends and supporters of CIRM. We got a lot of questions and didn't have enough time to address them all. So … Continue reading Facebook Live: Ask the Stem Cell Team
Brain wave of an idea is picked as one of the top science stories of the year
Dr. Alysson Muotri: Photo courtesy UC San Diego It's always gratifying when one of the projects you have funded starts to show promising results. It says your faith in the research and the researcher were well founded. But it's also fun when the project you fund turns up some really cool findings and is picked … Continue reading Brain wave of an idea is picked as one of the top science stories of the year
Journalism Pioneer and Founder of Latino Cancer Institute Joins Stem Cell Agency Board
Ysabel Duron Ysabel Duron, a pioneering award-winning Latina journalist, and a leading figure in cancer education in the Latino community in the US, has been appointed to the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. State Controller Betty Yee made the appointment saying: “Ms. Duron’s personal perspective as a (cancer) survivor and … Continue reading Journalism Pioneer and Founder of Latino Cancer Institute Joins Stem Cell Agency Board
An off-the-shelf cancer killer
iPS Cell: Photo from the lab of Kathrin Plath at UCLA One of the hottest areas in cancer research right now is the use of CAR-T treatments. These use the patient’s own re-engineered immune system cells to target and kill the tumor. But the thing that makes it so appealing – using the patient’s own … Continue reading An off-the-shelf cancer killer
Researchers create a better way to grow blood stem cells
UCLA's Dr. Hanna Mikkola and Vincenzo Calvanese, lead scientists on the study. Photo courtesy UCLA Blood stem cells are a vital part of us. They create all the other kinds of blood cells in our body and are used in bone marrow transplants to help people battling leukemia or other blood cancers. The problem is … Continue reading Researchers create a better way to grow blood stem cells
The Most Important Gift of All
Photo courtesy American Hospital Association There are many players who have a key role in helping make a stem cell therapy work. The scientists who develop the therapy, the medical team who deliver it and funders like CIRM who provide the money to make this all happen. But vital as they are, in some therapies … Continue reading The Most Important Gift of All
Good news for two CIRM-supported therapies
Jake Javier, a patient in the spinal cord injury stem cell therapy clinical trial It’s always satisfying to see two projects you have supported for a long time do well. That’s particularly true when the projects in question are targeting conditions that have no other effective therapies. This week we learned that a clinical trial … Continue reading Good news for two CIRM-supported therapies
The Stem Cellar 