CIRM Board Approves Funding for New Clinical Trial Targeting Brain Tumors

The governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded almost $12 million to carry out a clinical trial targeting brain tumors. This brings the total number of CIRM funded clinical trials to 83.   $11,999,984 was awarded to Dr. Jana Portnow at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope. They are using Neural stem … Continue reading CIRM Board Approves Funding for New Clinical Trial Targeting Brain Tumors

How stem cells helped Veronica fight retinitis pigmentosa and regain her vision

Veronica and Elliott Growing up Veronica McDougall thought everyone saw the world the way she did; blurry, slightly out-of-focus and with tunnel vision.  As she got older her sight got worse and even the strongest prescription glasses didn’t help. When she was 15 her brother tried teaching her to drive. One night she got into … Continue reading How stem cells helped Veronica fight retinitis pigmentosa and regain her vision

CIRM Board gives thumbs up to training and treatment programs

THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST CIRM Bridges student discusses her poster presentation At CIRM, the bread and butter of what we do is funding research and hopefully advancing therapies to patients. But the jam, that's our education programs. Helping train the next generation of stem cell and gene therapy scientists is … Continue reading CIRM Board gives thumbs up to training and treatment programs

Two Early-Stage Research Programs Targeting Cartilage Damage Get Funding from Stem Cell Agency

THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST Darryl D'Lima: Scripps Health Every year millions of Americans suffer damage to their cartilage, either in their knee or other joints, that can eventually lead to osteoarthritis, pain and immobility. Today the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) approved two projects targeting … Continue reading Two Early-Stage Research Programs Targeting Cartilage Damage Get Funding from Stem Cell Agency

Beware of misleading headlines and claims

THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST Coronavirus particles, illustration. When the COVID pandemic broke out researchers all over the world scrambled to find new approaches to tackling the virus. Some of these, such as the vaccines, proved remarkably effective. Others, such as the anti-parasite medication ivermectin or the anti-malaria drug chloroquine, were … Continue reading Beware of misleading headlines and claims

Learning life lessons in the lab

Rohan Upadhyay, CIRM SPARK student 2021 One of the most amazing parts of an amazing job is getting to know the students who take part in CIRM’s SPARK (Summer Program to Accelerate Regenerative Medicine Knowledge) program. It’s an internship giving high school students, that reflect the diversity of California, a chance to work in a … Continue reading Learning life lessons in the lab

CIRM Builds Out World Class Team With 5 New hires

Kevin Marks, CIRM's new General Counsel. Photo courtesy Modern-Counsel.com Following the passage of Proposition 14 CIRM has hired five new employees to help increase the team’s ability to respond to new challenges and responsibilities. Prop 14, which was approved by voters in November 2020, gives CIRM $5.5 billion in new funding. Those funds mean CIRM … Continue reading CIRM Builds Out World Class Team With 5 New hires

Identifying the visually impaired patients most likely to benefit from jCyte’s stem cell therapy

We have written about jCyte many times on The Stem Cellar. For one reason, they are showing really encouraging results in their treatment for retinitis pigmentosa (RP). And now they have taken an even deeper dive into those results and identified which patients may be most likely to benefit from the therapy. RP is a … Continue reading Identifying the visually impaired patients most likely to benefit from jCyte’s stem cell therapy

Anticipating the Future of Regenerative Medicine: CIRM’s Alpha Stem Cell Clinics Network

All this month we are using our blog and social media to highlight a new chapter in CIRM’s life, thanks to the voters approving Proposition 14. We are looking back at what we have done since we were created in 2004, and also looking forward to the future. Today we take a deeper dive into … Continue reading Anticipating the Future of Regenerative Medicine: CIRM’s Alpha Stem Cell Clinics Network

Inspiring new documentary about stem cell research

Poster for the documentary "Ending Disease" 2020 has been, to say the very least, a difficult and challenging year for all of us. But while the focus of the world has, understandably, been on the coronavirus there was also some really promising advances in stem cell research. Those advances are captured in a great new … Continue reading Inspiring new documentary about stem cell research