It was a small step for science, but a big step for mankind — one man in particular. A man in Sweden recently received a new trachea (windpipe) made from synthetic material seeded with cells from the patient's bone marrow. (The last shuttle launch on Friday has brought on aerospace wordplay.)The big step for mankind … Continue reading First fully synthetic windpipe saves a life without risk of rejection

Today CIRM's Bridges to Stem Cell Research students are meeting and greeting some of the state's most notable stem cell scientists at their annual meeting in Burlingame, CA. For many of these undergraduate and masters-level students, it's a opportunity they would never have had without CIRM's Bridges internship program. First established in 2009, the Bridges … Continue reading CIRM Bridges to stem cell research students talk science and careers

CIRM grantees at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California have succeeded in growing normal-looking small intestines in mice.In a press release, the senior author Tracy Grikscheit said:“The small intestine is an exquisitely regenerative organ.  The cells are constantly being lost and replaced over the course of our entire lives," she explained. … Continue reading Tissue engineering produces small intestine, possible help for pre-term infants

CIRM grantee Paul Knoepfler at UC Davis has been blogging about stem cell science for a while now. He recently expanded his outreach to include a regular podcast. It's worth checking out. He's listing the most recent podcast at the top of his main blog page: http://www.ipscell.com/ .Knoepfler includes some science, some policy, and a … Continue reading A welcome voice in stem cell communication – a new podcast launches

In February 1997, a friend and fellow science writer had been assigned to write a story about why mammals were unlikely to ever be cloned. A few days later that assignment changed with the February 22, 1997 announcement of Dolly the sheep — the first cloned mammal.Although the announcement from the Roslin Institute in Scotland … Continue reading Happy Birthday! Dolly the first cloned mammal turns 15

Guest blog by Lorraine and Chris Stiehl, CIRM Advocacy CoordinatorsFor those of you who follow this CIRM Blog on a regular basis, you must feel as excited as we are that progress in stem cell research is progressing at a rapid rate. We feel privileged that we are helping to coordinate the patient advocate effort … Continue reading Listening to the voice of the patient advocates

Mashable, the online go-to source for information on digital and social media, has declared today, June 30, to be social media day. We're celebrating with a who's who of those promoting stem cell science through social media and a comment on why social media is such a valuable tool for science education. First, why social … Continue reading Happy social media day, stem cell fans

Amidst the political and media back and forth on the ethics and value of human embryonic stem cell research there's been little information available about what people actually think — For what purposes they find the use of embryonic stem cells appropriate and how they form those opinions. This month a group of researchers from … Continue reading Majority of Americans support using stem cells to treat serious disease

Last December CIRM grantee Renee Reijo Pera spoke to the CIRM governing board about her work identifying which in vitro fertilization embryos were most likely to result in a successful pregnancy (you can watch that video here). That work has resulted in a patent to Stanford University, with an exclusive license to Menlo Park-based Auxogyn, … Continue reading In vitro fertilization technique receives patent

Last week's big news at CIRM was the election of Jonathan Thomas as the new governing board chair, as we announced late Wednesday night. He will be replacing Robert Klein, who has served the agency since its inception in 2004. Not that anyone can replace Klein, exactly, but Thomas seems eager to step in and … Continue reading Origin of lung mucus glands found, insights for cystic fibrosis, asthma