By Dr. Kelly Shepard One of our favorite things to do at CIRM is deliver exciting news about CIRM projects. This usually entails discussion of recent discoveries that made headlines, or announcing the launch of a new CIRM-funded clinical trial …. tangible signs of progress towards addressing unmet medical needs through advances in stem technology. … Continue reading Building a progressive pipeline
You never know when you write something if people are going to read it. Sometimes you wonder if anyone is going to read it. So, it’s always fun, and educational, to look back at the end of the year and see which pieces got the most eyeballs. It isn’t always the ones you think will … Continue reading The most popular Stem Cellar posts of 2018
Stepping out of the darkness into light. That’s how patients are describing their experience after participating in a CIRM-funded clinical trial targeting a rare form of vision loss called retinitis pigmentosa (RP). jCyte, the company conducting the trial, announced 12 month results for its candidate stem cell-based treatment for RP. RP is a genetic disorder … Continue reading jCyte Shares Encouraging Update on Clinical Trial for Retinitis Pigmentosa
THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST It’s hard to think of something as being rare when it affects up to 30 million Americans and 300 million people worldwide. But the truth is there are more than 6,000 conditions – those affecting 200,000 people or fewer – that are considered rare. Today, … Continue reading Joining the movement to fight rare diseases
At 18 years old, there are several life-changing moments that young people look forward to. For some, it involves graduating from high school, starting college, and being able to cast a vote in an election. For others, this momentous occasion symbolizes the official start of adulthood. For James O’ Brien, this milestone was marked by … Continue reading Stem cell treatment restores man’s sight in right eye after 25 years
The governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) yesterday invested $32.92 million to fund the Stem Cell Agency’s first clinical trial in Parkinson’s disease (PD), and to support three clinical trials targeting different forms of vision loss. This brings the total number of clinical trials funded by CIRM to 60. The PD … Continue reading Stem Cell Agency Approves Funding for Clinical Trials Targeting Parkinson’s Disease and Blindness
Generally speaking, I am not a huge fan of gala dinners. It’s not that I don’t like seeing people who do remarkable things getting a well-deserved honor. It’s just that the dinners often go on too long and the food is usually not very good (hey, this is San Francisco, those things matter). But last … Continue reading Stem Cell Agency’s Diane Winokur hailed as Visionary
Stem cell image of the week: The demise of Three Blind Mice nursery rhyme (Todd Dubnicoff) Our stem cell image of the week may mark the beginning of the end of the Three Blind Mice nursery rhyme and, more importantly, usher in a new treatment strategy for people suffering from vision loss. That’s because researchers … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: 3 blind mice no more and a tale of two tails
In 2017 Texas passed a sweeping new law, HB 810, which allowed medical clinics to provide “investigational stem cell treatments to patients with certain severe chronic diseases or terminal illnesses.” Those in favor of the law argued that patients battling life-threatening or life-changing diseases should have the right to try stem cell therapies that were … Continue reading Stories that caught our eye: Is a Texas law opening up access to stem cell treatments working? Another CIRM-funded company gets good news from the FDA.
Studies show that Americans fear losing their vision more than any other sense, such as hearing or speech, and almost as much as they fear cancer, Alzheimer’s and HIV/AIDS. That’s not too surprising. Our eyes are our connection to the world around us. Sever that connection, and the world is a very different place. For … Continue reading jCyte starts second phase of stem cell clinical trial targeting vision loss
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