A search on Google using the term “stem cell blogs” quickly produces a host of sites offering treatments for everything from ankle, hip and knee problems, to Parkinson’s disease and asthma. Amazingly the therapies for those very different conditions all use the same kind of cells produced in the same way. It’s like magic. Sadly, … Continue reading Tipping our hat to the good guys (& gals)
Stem cell tourism
Explaining COVID can be a pitch
When people ask me what I do at CIRM I sometimes half-jokingly tell them that I’m the official translator: I take complex science and turn it into everyday English. That’s important. The taxpayers of California have a right to know how their money is being spent and how it might benefit them. But that message … Continue reading Explaining COVID can be a pitch
Meet the people who are changing the future
Kristin MacDonald Every so often you hear a story and your first reaction is “oh, I have to share this with someone, anyone, everyone.” That’s what happened to me the other day. I was talking with Kristin MacDonald, an amazing woman, a fierce patient advocate and someone who took part in a CIRM-funded clinical trial … Continue reading Meet the people who are changing the future
Don’t believe everything you read
(PRNewsfoto/Deseret News) The Deseret News is Utah's oldest continuously published daily newspaper. It has a big readership too, with the largest Sunday circulation in the state and the second largest daily circulation. That’s why when they publish paid advertisements that look like serious news articles it can be misleading, even worse. This week the Deseret … Continue reading Don’t believe everything you read
Perseverance: from theory to therapy. Our story over the last year – and a half
Some of the stars of our Annual Report It’s been a long time coming. Eighteen months to be precise. Which is a peculiarly long time for an Annual Report. The world is certainly a very different place today than when we started, and yet our core mission hasn’t changed at all, except to spring into … Continue reading Perseverance: from theory to therapy. Our story over the last year – and a half
Why “Ask the Stem Cell Team” Remains Important
These are definitely strange, unusual and challenging times. Every day seems to bring new restrictions on what we can and should do. All, of course, in the name of protecting us and helping us avoid a potentially deadly virus. We all hope this will soon pass but we also know the bigger impact of the … Continue reading Why “Ask the Stem Cell Team” Remains Important
Enabling the Best Choice for Patients: The Need for Effective Patient Navigation
Making sure patients get the treatment they need and not a "snake oil" substitute We are at a turning point in regenerative medicine as the first wave of treatments have obtained FDA approval. But at the same time as we see the advance of scientifically rigorous research and regulated products we are also witnessing the … Continue reading Enabling the Best Choice for Patients: The Need for Effective Patient Navigation
The podcast that sounds like a science thriller but for the patients involved is all too real
Laura Beil, writer and producer of the Bad Batch podcast As we get close to the end of the year there is no shortage of lists of the “best of the year” and even this year the “best of the decade”. But when it comes to podcasts it would be hard to think of a … Continue reading The podcast that sounds like a science thriller but for the patients involved is all too real
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
When Google turns on you, you know you are in trouble
For years CIRM and others in the stem cell community (hello Paul Knoepfler) have been warning people about the dangers of going to clinics offering unproven and unapproved stem cell therapies. Recently the drum beat of people and organizations coming out in support of that stand has grown louder and louder. Mainstream media – TV … Continue reading When Google turns on you, you know you are in trouble
The Stem Cellar 