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
Stem cell research
Transplanted stem cells used to grow fully functional lungs in mice
Illustration of a human lung According to organ donation statistics from the Health Resources & Services Administration, over 113,000 men, women, and children are on the national transplant waiting list as of July 2019. Another person is added to the waiting list every 10 minutes and 20 people die each day waiting for a transplant. … Continue reading Transplanted stem cells used to grow fully functional lungs in mice
The challenges of living with IPEX
Last week the CIRM Board awarded $5.53 million to Dr. Rosa Bacchetta at Stanford to complete the work necessary to conduct a clinical trial for IPEX syndrome. This is a rare disease caused by mutations in the FOXP3 gene which leaves people with the condition vulnerable to immune system attacks on their organs and tissues. … Continue reading The challenges of living with IPEX
CIRM Board Awards $15.8 Million to Four Translational Research Projects
Last week, the CIRM Board approved $32.92 million in awards directed towards four new clinical trials in vision related diseases and Parkinson's Disease. In addition to these awards, the Board also approved investing $15.80 million in four awards in the Translational Research program. The goal of this program is to help promising projects complete the … Continue reading CIRM Board Awards $15.8 Million to Four Translational Research Projects
Stem Cell Agency Approves Funding for Clinical Trials Targeting Parkinson’s Disease and Blindness
The governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) yesterday invested $32.92 million to fund the Stem Cell Agency’s first clinical trial in Parkinson’s disease (PD), and to support three clinical trials targeting different forms of vision loss. This brings the total number of clinical trials funded by CIRM to 60. The PD … Continue reading Stem Cell Agency Approves Funding for Clinical Trials Targeting Parkinson’s Disease and Blindness
How early CIRM support helped an anti-cancer therapy overcome obstacles and help patients
Dr. Catriona Jamieson, UC San Diego When you read about a new drug or therapy being approved to help patients it always seems so simple. Researchers come up with a brilliant idea, test it to make sure it is safe and works, and then get approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to … Continue reading How early CIRM support helped an anti-cancer therapy overcome obstacles and help patients
A bridge to the future: training the next generation of stem cell scientists
At CIRM we don’t just invest in stem cell research, we invest in people. One prime example of that is our Bridges to Stem Cell Research program. This is helping train the next generation of scientists by preparing Californian undergraduate and master’s students for careers in stem cell research. The students who go through the … Continue reading A bridge to the future: training the next generation of stem cell scientists
USC study shows how tumor cells in the bloodstream can target distant organs
Various types of cancer can become particularly aggressive and difficult to treat once they spread from their initial point of origin to other parts of the body. This unfortunate phenomenon, known as metastasis, can make treatment very challenging, decreasing the chance of survival for the patient. In order to better understand this process, a CIRM … Continue reading USC study shows how tumor cells in the bloodstream can target distant organs
CIRM funded research could lead to treatment to prevent recurrence of deadly blood cancer
Chronic myelogenous leukemia Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a cancer of the white blood cells. It causes them to increase in number, crowd out other blood cells, leading to anemia, infection or heavy bleeding. Up until the early 2000’s the main weapon against CML was chemotherapy, but the introduction of drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors … Continue reading CIRM funded research could lead to treatment to prevent recurrence of deadly blood cancer
Encouraging Progress for Two CIRM Supported Clinical Trials
This past Wednesday was Stem Cell Awareness Day, a day that is meant to remind us all of the importance of stem cell research and the potential it has to treat a wide variety of diseases. On this day, we also released an independent Economic Impact Report that showed how $10.7 Billion (yes, you read … Continue reading Encouraging Progress for Two CIRM Supported Clinical Trials