It’s all about the patients

Ronnie, born with a fatal immune disorder now leading a normal life thanks to a CIRM-funded stem cell/gene therapy: Photo courtesy of his mum Upasana Whenever you are designing something new you always have to keep in mind who the end user is. You can make something that works perfectly fine for you, but if … Continue reading It’s all about the patients

Charting a new course for stem cell research

What are the latest advances in stem cell research targeting cancer? Can stem cells help people battling COVID-19 or even help develop a vaccine to stop the virus? What are researchers and the scientific community doing to help address the unmet medical needs of underserved communities? Those are just a few of the topics being … Continue reading Charting a new course for stem cell research

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

CIRM joins forces with US Department of Defense to fight COVID

Photo courtesy of Gabrielle Lurie / San Francisco Chronicle / Polaris Small state agencies like CIRM don’t normally get to partner with a behemoth like the Department of Defense (DOD), but these are not normal times. Far from it. That’s why we are both joining forces with the National Institutes of Health to fund a … Continue reading CIRM joins forces with US Department of Defense to fight COVID

Stem Cell All-Stars, All For You

Dr. Larry Goldstein, UC San Diego It’s not often you get a chance to hear some of the brightest minds around talk about their stem cell research and what it could mean for you, me and everyone else. That’s why we’re delighted to be bringing some of the sharpest tools in the stem cell shed … Continue reading Stem Cell All-Stars, All For You

Scientists at UC Davis discover a way to help stem cells repair heart tissue

Researchers Phung Thai (left) and Padmini Sirish were part of a research team seeking stem cell solutions to heart failure care.  Image Credit: UC Davis Repairing the permanent damage associated with a heart attack or long-term heart disease has been a challenge that scientists have been trying to tackle for a long time. Heart failure … Continue reading Scientists at UC Davis discover a way to help stem cells repair heart tissue

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

A new voice and vision added to CIRM Board

UC Davis School of Medicine Dean, Dr. Allison Brashear: Photo courtesy UCD We have a new member on the CIRM Board – Dr. Allison Brashear is the Dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine, overseeing one of the nation’s top research, academic and medical training institutions. Dr. Brashear is an internationally known researcher in … Continue reading A new voice and vision added to CIRM Board

Scientists Engineer Stem Cells to Fight HIV

Image of the virus that causes AIDS - courtesy NIH If that headline seems familiar it should. It came from an article in MIT Technology Review back in 2009. There have been many other headlines since then, all on the same subject, and yet here we are, in 2020, and still no cure for HIV/AIDS. … Continue reading Scientists Engineer Stem Cells to Fight HIV

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