Vascular smooth muscle cells differentiated from human embryonic stem cells stained for DNA (blue) and the smooth muscle markers smoothelin (red) and caldesmon (green).Leslie Caron, GENEA, Australia2011 IN Cell Analyzer Image CompetitionAn image of smooth muscle cells derived from embryonic stem cells was among the winners of the IN Cell Analyzer Image Contest. This image … Continue reading Stem cell image of the day: smooth muscle from embryonic stem cells

Today is National Women’s Heart Health Day, part of February’s National Heart Month. Why a day just for women? Heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women in the United States, but women are less likely than men to recognize their risk or to receive fast-acting drugs to improve their chances of … Continue reading Raising awareness and finding cures for heart disease and stroke

The California State University, Long Beach student paper posted a nice story today about an extension to the school’s CIRM Bridges to Stem Cell Research award. They quote program director Lisa Klig:"I'm delighted that CIRM was so pleased with our success during the first funding cycle of three years that they opted to extend the … Continue reading CIRM Bridges program trains CSULB students for cutting-edge jobs

A new paper from grantees at Stanford University School of Medicine reports an advance in directly converting one adult cell type to another. This paper, out of Marius Wernig’s lab, builds on his previous work converting mouse skin cells and then human skin cells into nerve cells.In recent years, a handful of researchers have managed … Continue reading CIRM grantees convert skin to nerve precursors

Each 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.This month’s review has to start by noting a key milestone for the … Continue reading Guest blogger Alan Trounson — January’s stem cell research highlights

Sandra Dillon and her fiancé at the CIRM governing board meeting. Thanks to board member Leeza Gibbons for the photo.Todd Dubnicoff is CIRM’s videographer and video editor At 28, Sandra Dillon was the picture of healthy living. She ran every day, ate healthy, didn’t smoke and recycled. But she had been bothered by a bump … Continue reading Genomics and stem cell research give patient her life back

In Lawrence Goldstein’s lab at the new Sanford Consortium building in San Diego, a series of lab dishes hold cells that could unlock some of the mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease. These cells are neurons made from the skin of people who have the disease. Goldstein and his team reprogrammed those skin cells into embryonic-like iPS … Continue reading Alzheimer’s disease in a dish provides hope, avenue to therapies

Yesterday, the company Advanced Cell Technology announced that two people in their clinical trials testing an embryonic stem cell-based therapy for forms of blindness is not only safe so far, but shows tentative early signs of restoring some vision in two patients. The work was published online January 23 in the journal The Lancet. Of … Continue reading Early results from two embryonic stem cell-based trials show promise

Last week CIRM and Scottish Development International, which promotes science research and economic development in Scotland, signed an agreement to collaborate on stem cell research.This agreement marks 12th international funding agency to sign a collaborative agreement with CIRM. The agency also has agreements with federal and state funding agencies and foundations within in the U.S.These … Continue reading CIRM and Scotland team up in stem cell research collaboration

Earlier this week the CIRM governing board approved $40 million to fund a stem cell genomics initiative (here’s our press release). Stay with me here—this is actually really cool stuff, and crucial if we’re going to be able to generate the kinds of stem cell-based therapies patients and their families are waiting for. Genomics is … Continue reading Genomics initiative creates California infrastructure for speeding stem cell research