Judy Chou, Ph.D., Appointed to Governing Board of California’s Stem Cell & Gene Therapy Agency

Judy Chou, Ph.D. Judy Chou, Ph.D. has been appointed to the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee (ICOC), the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Dr. Chou is the President, CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of AltruBio, Inc. a clinical stage biotech company that is focused on developing novel … Continue reading Judy Chou, Ph.D., Appointed to Governing Board of California’s Stem Cell & Gene Therapy Agency

Creating a diverse group of future scientists

Students in CIRM's Bridges program showing posters of their work If you have read the headlines lately, you’ll know that the COVID-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on the shipping industry. Container vessels are forced to sit out at anchor for a week or more because there just aren’t enough dock workers to unload … Continue reading Creating a diverse group of future scientists

CIRM new hires include a few former employees

CIRM new hires include former employees and some new faces, all focused on the agency's mission. Rosa Canet-Aviles, PhD Rosa has been named the new Vice President of Scientific Programs. Rosa is a familiar face at the agency, serving as a Science Officer with CIRM from 2008 to 2014. During that time, she helped oversee … Continue reading CIRM new hires include a few former employees

New technique maps out diversity and location of cells in tissue or tumor

Image Description: Alex Marson is part of a team of researchers who developed a new technique to map the specialized diversity and spatial location of individual cells within a tissue or tumor. Photo Credit: Anastasiia Sapon All the cells in your body work together and each can have a different role. Their individual function not … Continue reading New technique maps out diversity and location of cells in tissue or tumor

Three UC’s Join Forces to Launch CRISPR Clinical Trial Targeting Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle shaped red blood cells The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), in collaboration with UC Berkeley (UCB) and UC Los Angeles (UCLA), have been given permission by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to launch a first-in-human clinical trial using CRISPR technology as a gene-editing technique to cure Sickle Cell Disease. This research … Continue reading Three UC’s Join Forces to Launch CRISPR Clinical Trial Targeting Sickle Cell Disease

Women who have changed, and are changing, the world

The problem with trying to write about something like Women’s History Month is where do you start? Even if you narrow it down to women in science the list is vast. Marie Curie I suppose you could always start with Maria Salomea SkĹ‚odowska who is better known as Marie Curie. She not only discovered radium … Continue reading Women who have changed, and are changing, the world

CIRM Bridges program prepared student for research of a rare disease

Ian Blong, Ph.D., CIRM San Francisco State University Bridges to Stem Cell Research Alumnus Recently, The New York Times released a powerful article that tells the stories of four different families navigating the challenges of having a family member with a rare disease. One of these stories focused on Matt Wilsey, a tech entrepreneur and … Continue reading CIRM Bridges program prepared student for research of a rare disease

Stem Cell Round: Improving memory, building up “good” fat, nanomedicine

Stem Cell Photo of the Week In honor of brain awareness week, our featured stem cell photo is of the brain! Scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Stem Cell Institute identified a genetic switch that could potentially improve memory during aging and symptoms of PTSD. Shown in this picture are dentate gyrus cells … Continue reading Stem Cell Round: Improving memory, building up “good” fat, nanomedicine

A funny thing happened on my way to a PhD: one scientists change of mind and change of direction

Laurel Barchas is an old and dear friend of the communications team here at CIRM. As a student at U.C. Berkeley she helped us draft our education portal – putting together a comprehensive curriculum to help high schools teach students about stem cells in a way that met all state and federal standards. But a … Continue reading A funny thing happened on my way to a PhD: one scientists change of mind and change of direction

Stories that caught our eye: smelling weight gain, colon cancer & diet and diabetes & broken bones

How smelling your food could cause weight gain (Karen Ring). Here’s the headline that caught my eye this week: “Smelling your food first can make you fat…” It’s a bizarre statement, but the claim is backed by scientific research coming from a new study in Cell Metabolism by researchers at the University of California Berkeley. … Continue reading Stories that caught our eye: smelling weight gain, colon cancer & diet and diabetes & broken bones