What is the true measure of a man? That’s a question that has been on the minds of many of us these last few days as we struggle to come to terms with the sudden and untimely death of our friend and colleague Duane Roth. Duane died last weekend of injuries he suffered in a … Continue reading By any measure; a fine man, a great loss. Remembering Duane Roth

Blood-forming stem cells donated by family members and good Samaritans save the lives of thousands of patients with blood cancers such as leukemia every year. But of the 20,000 such transplants each year around half result in a severe and frequently fatal complication known as Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD). Now, a multi-institutional team has … Continue reading Finding should result in safer stem cell transplants from donors

NIH Director Francis Collins with members of the Lacks family. Collins posted this photo to his Twitter account @NIHdirector yesterday after announcing the historic agreement.Yesterday the NIH announced that their director Francis Collins had personally worked with the Lacks family to give consent for the publication of the HeLa cell genome sequence. This agreement includes … Continue reading Applying lessons learned from the HeLa experience: making consent informative

Two of our biggest boosters got a bit of a boost themselves today. Paul Knoepfler and Roman Reed have been named as honorees for this year’s Stem Cell Action Awards. It’s a great honor, and a well-deserved one in both cases.Roman Reed (left) and Paul Knoepfler after Reed was named Stem Cell Person of the … Continue reading Inspiration and Advocation – how two research champions are spreading the word

We have had a long friendship with the folks at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. They do some great work up on the hill in Novato (you can read about the work we have funded at the Buck here) Now they have a brand new Learning Center that is going to let them … Continue reading Feeding stem cells and watching Waterbears: the Buck opens its doors to the public

This summer we're sponsoring high school interns in stem cell labs throughout California. We asked those students to contribute to our Instagram photos and YouTube videos about life in the lab, and write about their experiences. Carly Larsson took this confocal microscopy image and submitted it to our #CIRMStemCellLab Instagram feed.Carly Larsson worked in the lab … Continue reading Through their lens: Carly Larsson dreams mad scientist dreams (and wants more time in the lab)

Duane RothOn behalf of all the CIRM family, we mourn the loss of our colleague and dear friend Duane Roth, who died yesterday. Throughout his tenure with us as a Board member and Co Vice-Chair, he was one of the true stewards of the mission, offering countless insights on the role of industry in the … Continue reading Jonathan Thomas reflects on the loss of board member Duane Roth

Here are some stem cell stories that caught our eye this past week. Some are groundbreaking science, others are of personal interest to us, and still others are just fun. Enlisting stem cells to tolerate chemotherapy. When we talk about stem cells and cancer we are usually talking about the dark side of stem cells, … Continue reading Stem cell Stories that caught our eye: Stem cells aiding cancer therapy, first clinical trial with reprogrammed cells and Alzheimer’s

Alan Trounson, CIRM PresidentEach month CIRM President Alan Trounson gives his perspective on recently published papers he thinks will be valuable in moving the field of stem cell research forward. This month’s report, along with an archive of past reports, is available on the CIRM website.My report this month discusses five journal articles including one … Continue reading Guest blogger Alan Trounson — July’s stem cell research highlights

This tale begins at Stanford (and CIRM) and follows our two scientific heroines to opposite sides of the country, where together they made a discovery that might explain how cancer stem cells actually promote leukemia in bone marrow.Normally, blood stem cells are able to outcompete leukemia cells in the bone marrow cavity where they are … Continue reading A tale of two labs: collaborating scientists uncover how cancer stem cells remake bone marrow cavities