Yesterday’s meeting of our governing Board was important for a number of reasons. First, the Board voted to invest some $32 million to try and get two promising projects into clinical trials – more on that in a minute – and also to try and attract some world-class researchers to California through our Research Leadership … Continue reading A Second Chance for a Spinal Cord Injury Trial, and a Powerful Reminder from Patient Advocates
Research News
Write your Ticket to the Stem Cell Science Event of the Year
For many stem cell scientists one of the highlights of the year is going to the annual International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) conference. It’s like Disneyland for researchers. This year the event is being held in Vancouver, Canada. But many younger scientists won’t be going because they can’t afford it. So UC Davis … Continue reading Write your Ticket to the Stem Cell Science Event of the Year
Stem Cell Stories that Caught our Eye: Safety of First Embryonic Cell Trial, Engineered Organs, New Hips
Here are some stem cell stories that caught our eye this past week. Some are groundbreaking science, others are of personal interest to us, and still others are just fun. Update on status of bioengineered organs. Kevin Mayer, writing for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, this week produced the best lay overview I have read … Continue reading Stem Cell Stories that Caught our Eye: Safety of First Embryonic Cell Trial, Engineered Organs, New Hips
Slowing Down the Clock on Aging Hearts
It’s like something from a nightmare: a disease that ages you at a breakneck pace, so that by age 12, your body more closely resembles someone in their 80’s—inside and out. Instead of enjoying your childhood and adolescence, you suffer from diseases usually reserved for octogenarians: including heart disease, kidney failure and stroke. Chances are, … Continue reading Slowing Down the Clock on Aging Hearts
Getting at the Root of Cancer: Cancer Stem Cells Tracked down in Human Patients
The backers of the cancer stem cell hypothesis just got a boost from scientists at the University of Oxford, UK, and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who last week used an advanced genetic tracking technique that identified, in patients, the presence of cancer stem cells—a small subset of cancer cells that many experts view as … Continue reading Getting at the Root of Cancer: Cancer Stem Cells Tracked down in Human Patients
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: stroke, growing bladder tissue and a clinical trial roundup
Here are some stem cell stories that caught our eye this past week. Some are groundbreaking science, others are of personal interest to us, and still others are just fun. Early data on stem cells for stroke promising. The British company ReNeuron reported preliminary data on its clinical trial in stroke patients at the European … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: stroke, growing bladder tissue and a clinical trial roundup
Perfecting the use of stem cells as drug delivery mules shows promise in brain tumors
Stem cells loaded with cancer-killing herpes virus (red) attacking a brain tumor cell (green). Courtesy HSCIThe innate tendency of stem cells to seek out inflammation—combined with the fact that our bodies see tumors as inflammation—has led many teams to try to harness stem cells as delivery vehicles for cancer therapies. CIRM funds a team at … Continue reading Perfecting the use of stem cells as drug delivery mules shows promise in brain tumors
Scientists Successfully Test Stem Cell Therapy in Monkeys; Generate New Bone
Last week, researchers came that much closer to one day regrowing human bone lost to disease or injury. In the latest issue of the journal Cell Reports, scientists from the National Institutes of Health announced that they have transformed skin cells from rhesus macaque monkeys into new bone—marking the first time such a procedure has … Continue reading Scientists Successfully Test Stem Cell Therapy in Monkeys; Generate New Bone
New Lease on Legs: Stem Cell Treatment Gives Mice with MS-Like Condition Ability to Walk
For a long time, the team of scientists was in shock: in just two weeks they had transformed mice that could not walk—into mice that could. In the latest issue of Stem Cell Reports, available online today, scientists from the University of Utah and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, have reversed the … Continue reading New Lease on Legs: Stem Cell Treatment Gives Mice with MS-Like Condition Ability to Walk
Stem cell techniques yield new clues to the origins of schizophrenia
Although the word “schizophrenia” was coined over 100 years ago, scientists are still stumped by what causes this severe brain disorder, which afflicts an estimated three million Americans and presents a financial burden of $63 billion each year. People with schizophrenia suffer debilitating delusional and hallucinatory symptoms, such as hearing voices or believing that tragedy … Continue reading Stem cell techniques yield new clues to the origins of schizophrenia
The Stem Cellar 