There’s been a lot of discussion recently about explaining science to the public, capped by GQ photo shoot featuring scientists and rock stars as part of the Rock Stars of Science campaign. I was happy to see our own Catriona Jamieson of UCSD featured with British singer-songwriter and rapper Jay Sean. According to a story … Continue reading Rock stars of science: making science cool

Yesterday CIRM grantee Bruce Conklin gave his top four reasons why embryonic stem cells are so valuable and why federal funding for the work needs to be able to continue. Conklin, who is Senior Investigator Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and professor at UCSF, studies heart rhythm defects by creating iPS cells from people genetically … Continue reading Top four list: why embryonic stem cells are critical

The L.A. Times gave it’s rodent of the week designation to a mighty mouse produced by University of Colorado, Boulder researchers. The group transplanted muscle stem cells from healthy mice into mice with damaged muscles. Not only did the muscle stem cells spring to action, repairing the damaged muscle, but they maintained the mouse in … Continue reading Mighty mice point to stem cell therapy for muscle diseases and aging

Guest bloggers Chris and Lorraine Stiehl are CIRM Patient Advocate Coordinators*:Sunday, November 14 is World Diabetes Day. Back in 2004, we joined the team that launched Prop 71 because of the opportunity that stem cells may provide for diabetes. We are now involved with CIRM as Advocacy Coordinators, working with all of you across the … Continue reading November 14: World Diabetes Day

Back in May 2009, CIRM held a workshop in which leading scientists discussed ways in which stem cell research could benefit people with autism (here is the autism workshop report from that meeting). I have two friends with children who are on the spectrum and have seen first-hand the toll the disease takes on the … Continue reading Stem cell model of autism allows testing of new drugs

Nobel Prize winner Stanley Prusiner was one of the authors on a letter to the New York Times on October 27 advocating that congress pass legislation that “would raise the annual federal investment in Alzheimer’s research to $2 billion, and require that the president designate an official whose sole job would be to develop and … Continue reading Nobel prize winner Stanley Prusiner calls for Alzheimer’s disease funding

A story by Nick Wade in Monday’s New York Times rubbed some scientists the wrong way — and I must admit the piece was not too popular around CIRM headquarters. Wade equated research funding with picking stocks. His idea is that a broad portfolio is bound to include some winners (he attributes this approach to … Continue reading Stem cell research like picking stocks? We don’t think so.

Gina Kolata had an interesting piece in today’s New York Times about the difficulty of predicting where the next big biomedical breakthrough will come. She, like many people, had predicted big things for gene therapy. She was wrong. She writes:But was I right to say advances are unpredictable? Yes and no, scientists say. “I’ve learned … Continue reading The next big thing — and how to fund it

Over the past two years we’ve watched a series of scientists shoot down the prevailing idea that one adult cell type cannot be converted into a different adult cell, with researchers directly converting skin cells into insulin-producing cells, nerve cells and heart tissue. (You can see our blog entry on this work here.)A Canadian team … Continue reading Human skin cells converted to blood

Drosophila intestinal stem cells (ISCs) respond to nutrient availabilityImage: Courtesy of Dr. Lei Wang, Salk Institute for Biological Studies Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found an intriguing connection between stem cell behavior and food. The more food, the more stem cells, and those stem cells divide more vigorously. The researchers did … Continue reading Food begets stem cells?