Understanding a complicated neurodegenerative disorder like Parkinson’s disease (PD) is no easy task. While there are known genetic risk factors that cause PD, only about 10 percent of cases are linked to a genetic cause. The majority of patients suffer from the sporadic form of PD, where the causes are unknown but thought to be … Continue reading Adding new stem cell tools to the Parkinson’s disease toolbox
CIRM News
An inside look reveals the adult brain prunes its own branches
Did you know that when you’re born, your brain contains around 100 billion nerve cells? This is impressive considering that these nerve cells, also called neurons, are already connected to each other through an intricate, complex neural network that is essential for brain function. Here’s how the brain does it. During development, neural stem cells … Continue reading An inside look reveals the adult brain prunes its own branches
Double dose of good news: scientists use drugs to turn skin into heart and brain cells
Today the stem cell field got a double dose of good news. Two CIRM-funded studies from the Gladstone Institutes reported successfully reprogramming human skin into heart cells and brain cells in a dish using different cocktails of small molecule drugs. The work was led by Dr. Sheng Ding, a Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes. … Continue reading Double dose of good news: scientists use drugs to turn skin into heart and brain cells
UCSF study explains how chronic inflammation impairs blood stem cell function
Inflammation is the immune system’s natural protective response to infection and injury. It involves the activation and mobilization of immune cells that can kill off foreign invaders and help repair damaged tissue. At the heart of the inflammatory response are hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). These are blood stem cells found in the bone marrow that … Continue reading UCSF study explains how chronic inflammation impairs blood stem cell function
A visual guide on using stem cells to treat blindness
Some stories are so sweet or powerful or wonderful - or all three - that they just stick in your mind. About 18 months ago Rosalinda and German Barrero came to talk to the CIRM Board about retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a devastating genetic disease that slowly destroys a person’s vision. Contrary to what everyone expected … Continue reading A visual guide on using stem cells to treat blindness
Easier, Cheaper Stem Cell-Based Heart Muscle Sets Stage for Large-Scale Drug Development
The great inventions – like the automobile, the Internet or aviation – are marked as important turning points in human history. But it’s usually the additional tinkering that goes on in the ensuing years after the initial invention that makes the technology feasible in terms of cost, reproducibility and mass production. The same holds true … Continue reading Easier, Cheaper Stem Cell-Based Heart Muscle Sets Stage for Large-Scale Drug Development
Chemo-Induced Heart Failure: Using Stem Cells to Identify Those at Risk
The good news is you’re cancer free, the bad news is you need a heart transplant. It almost sounds like the punchline to a joke, but it’s no laugher matter because the scenario is real for some cancer patients. Chemotherapy is a life saver for many but certain doses can be so toxic that it’s often hard … Continue reading Chemo-Induced Heart Failure: Using Stem Cells to Identify Those at Risk
Diabetes’ demise? Master Switch Identified for Turning Stem Cells into Functional Insulin-Producing Cells
It’s been a good week for diabetes researchers and the over one million Americans with type 1 diabetes who are hoping for an eventual stem cell-based treatment for this incurable disease. Published a day apart, two studies reported on achieving an elusive goal for the field: creating functional insulin-producing cells in a lab dish from induced … Continue reading Diabetes’ demise? Master Switch Identified for Turning Stem Cells into Functional Insulin-Producing Cells
How do you know what patients want if you never even ask them?
Our mission at CIRM is to accelerate stem treatments to patients with unmet medical needs. But what if those needs are not just unmet, they’re also unknown? What happens when those developing treatments never even bother to ask those they are trying to help if this is what they really need, or want? The question … Continue reading How do you know what patients want if you never even ask them?
Patients are the Heroes at the CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinics Symposium
UCSD’s Catriona Jamieson and patient advocate Sandra Dillon at the CIRM Alpha Clinic Network Symposium Sometimes, when you take a moment to stand back and look at what you have accomplished, you can surprise yourself at how far you have come, and how much you have done in a short space of time. Take the … Continue reading Patients are the Heroes at the CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinics Symposium
The Stem Cellar 