[This is the first of three stories on CIRM’s Cancer Fight that we will post this week. Tomorrow’s will discuss two projects that attack cancer stem cells directly and Thursday's will describe three projects that help our immune system wipe out the traitorous cells.] It’s back—two words we would like to remove from the cancer … Continue reading CIRM fights cancer: $56 million for 5 clinical trials to vanquish tumors for good
Calling for a cure for HIV/AIDS
Larry Kramer is a pivotal figure in the history of HIV/AIDS. His activism on many fronts has been widely credited with changing public health policy and speeding up access to experimental medications for people infected with the virus. So when he says that the fight for treatment is not enough but "The battle cry now … Continue reading Calling for a cure for HIV/AIDS
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: lab-grown kidneys that work, finding blood stem cells’ home and colitis
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. Lab grown kidneys able to take a leak. While a few teams have been able to grow parts of kidneys in the lab using stem … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: lab-grown kidneys that work, finding blood stem cells’ home and colitis
Funding a clinical trial for deadly cancer is a no brainer
The beast of cancers For a disease that is supposedly quite rare, glioblastoma seems to be awfully common. I have lost two friends to the deadly brain cancer in the last few years. Talking to colleagues and friends here at CIRM, it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t know someone who has died of it. … Continue reading Funding a clinical trial for deadly cancer is a no brainer
CIRM Scholar Spotlight: Matt Donne on Lung Stem Cells
CIRM has funded a number of educational and research training programs over the past ten years to give younger students and graduate/postdoc scholars the opportunity to explore stem cell science. Two of the main programs we support are the Bridges and the CIRM Scholars Training Program. These programs fund future scientists from an undergraduate to … Continue reading CIRM Scholar Spotlight: Matt Donne on Lung Stem Cells
How Brain Stem Cells Could Stay Forever Young
As we age, so do the cells that make up our bodies. To keep us spry as we get older, our bodies rely on adult stem cells to replace the cells in our tissues and organs. Adult stem cells can only generate cell types specific to the organ or tissue that they live in. For … Continue reading How Brain Stem Cells Could Stay Forever Young
Helping patient’s fight back against deadliest form of skin cancer
Caladrius Biosciences has been funded by CIRM to conduct a Phase 3 clinical trial to treat the most severe form of skin cancer: metastatic melanoma. Metastatic melanoma is a disease with no effective treatment, only around 15 percent of people with it survive five years, and every year it claims an estimated 10,000 lives in … Continue reading Helping patient’s fight back against deadliest form of skin cancer
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: new CRISPR fix for sickle cell disease, saving saliva stem cells, jumping genes in iPSCs and lung stem cells.
An end run around sickle cell disease with CRISPR The CRISPR-based gene editing technique has got to be the hottest topic in biomedical research right now. And I sense we’re only at the tip of the iceberg with more applications of the technology popping up almost every week. Just two days ago, researchers at the Dana … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: new CRISPR fix for sickle cell disease, saving saliva stem cells, jumping genes in iPSCs and lung stem cells.
The Ogawa-Yamanaka Prize Crowns Its First Stem Cell Champion
A world of dark Imagine if you woke up one day and couldn’t see. Your life would change drastically, and you would have to painfully relearn how to function in a world that heavily relies on sight. While most people don’t lose their sight overnight, many suffer from visual impairments that slowly happen over time. … Continue reading The Ogawa-Yamanaka Prize Crowns Its First Stem Cell Champion
Patching up a Broken Heart with FSTL1
How do you mend a broken heart? It’s a subject that songwriters have pondered for generations, without success. But if you pose the same question to a heart doctor, they would give you a number of practical options that focus on the prevention or management of the physical symptoms you are dealing with. That’s because … Continue reading Patching up a Broken Heart with FSTL1
The Stem Cellar 