This week the Michael J. Fox Foundation asked whatever happened to stem cells? We could have told them: a lot has happened with stem cells in Parkinson's disease. Just look at our Parkinson's disease fact sheet.But instead of asking us, Dave Iverson asked Brian Fiske, PhD, vice president of research programs at MJFF and Olle … Continue reading Whatever happend to stem cells for Parkinson’s disease? A lot!

French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss once said: “the scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he's one who asks the right questions.” That’s how science progresses, a never-ending series of questions to make sure that what you think is right, is right. That’s why there are so many scientific conferences. They bring together … Continue reading World Alliance Forum brings together stem cell leaders to discuss challenges

The votes are in, the decision has been made. UC Davis stem cell researcher, CIRM grantee and avid blogger Dr. Paul Knoepfler has named the winner of his Stem Cell Person of the Year award. And for the second year in a row it’s not me.This year the winner is Dr. Elena Cattaneo the Director … Continue reading Stem Cell Person of the Year winner announced

With all our talk about finding new therapies for people it's sometimes easy to lose track of the kind of very basic research that it sometimes takes to develop those therapies. And by very basic what I'm talking about in this case is yeast.Yes, yeast are a long way from being human. And yes, they … Continue reading New insight into human brain cell function found in … yeast?

Human mesenchymal stem cells being grown on a scaffold as a way of repairing bone. University of Cambridge on FlickrAmong the many injustices of aging: just as our tissues start falling apart, so to, our stem cells stop functioning as well to alleviate the damage. It just isn't fair.Muscle stem cells don't respond as well … Continue reading Stem cells taken from fat grow less effective with age

Several of our grantees are working on projects that involve destroying the stem cells at the heart of cancer. These cancer stem cells are a bit of a mind-bender: We're used to thinking of stem cells as a good thing -- they regenerate damaged tissues in our bodies. But cancer stem cells constantly regenerate the … Continue reading New tool for destroying cells at the heart of cancer

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. Renee Reijo-Pera and Bertha ChenStem Cells for urinary incontinence. Fellow stem cell blogger, Don Reed, wrote a nice piece for the Huffington Post on some very … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: Lou Gherig’s disease, incontinence, evolution and questionable therapies

This post was originally published by the Canadian Stem Cell Network's Signals blog. Canada is home to numerous stem cell discoveries and StemCellShorts is an excellent medium through which we can convey these accomplishments to Canadians and others worldwide.  The ‘shorts’ are innovative, educational and entertaining”.  – Dr. Mick Bhatia, Director and Senior Scientist at the McMaster … Continue reading Great new stem cell video from Ben Paylor: What are iPS cells?

Bruce Wisnicki spoke to our governing board about living with Parkinson's disease and his hope for a cure. You’d think Parkinson’s disease would be a slam-dunk for a stem cell-based therapy. The disease occurs when a particular group of cells in the brain die off. The idea would be to mature stem cells into that … Continue reading Parkinson’s disease workshop gives guidance to those developing therapies

screenshot from CIRM's education web portal with the new NGSS stem cell curriculumAround 4:00 on September 4 the California Board of Education voted unanimously to accept the Next Generation Science Standards set by a national coalition. Five weeks later, around noon on October 10 we posted two new units to our stem cell high school … Continue reading CIRM’s high school stem cell curriculum now reflects the new Next Generation Science Standards that ask students to ask questions