Diving and swooping through the neurons of an actual brain makes for what might be the most awesome video ever, created by Nature as part of their story on work by our grantees at Stanford University. Karl Deisseroth, whose work this is, has managed to preserve the intricate, intertwining mesh of connections in the brain … Continue reading Most awesome video ever dives and swoops through the structures of an actual brain

Students in the new stem cell research course at SFSU (photo from SFSU)Our friends at San Francisco State University have started a course that I wish every person could take: they are introducing non-science majors to the science and politics of stem cell biology. I love the idea of having non-scientists learn more about issues … Continue reading Non-science majors learning about stem cell research at San Francisco State @SFState_News

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.One of the stories that caught our eye this week has to do with finding therapies for kids with untreatable blood diseasesThere are many reasons for … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye this week: appetite, hurdles to therapies, scientist biographies and more

By Smithsonian Institution from United States, via Wikimedia CommonsA thank you to my colleagues at Stanford University who pointed out an excellent—and cleverly named—science blog: Grandma got STEM. In this case STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics rather than stem cells, but still.The blog’s origin story causes me to cringe a bit. The founders … Continue reading Grannies in the lab: Blog showcases influential women in science

Clive Svendsen gives Stephen Hawking a tour of his Cedars-Sinai lab. (Photo: Cedars-Sinai, Eric Reed) Stephen Hawking’s most famous work involves black holes in the universe, but it became clear this morning that when he appears anywhere to speak, it is the opposite of a black hole. He visited the lab of a CIRM-funded team … Continue reading Physicist Hawking visits CIRM-funded lab working on ALS therapy

Alan Trounson is President of CIRMBob Edwards died April 10th in his sleep after a long illness. Bob was a friend, mentor, supporter and close associate for the vast majority of scientists interested in reproduction and infertility worldwide. He received the Nobel prize for medicine/physiology in 2010. Robert G. Edwards, father of IVF, 1925-2013 (Photo: … Continue reading Fond memories of working with Bob Edwards, the father of IVF

An international team of researchers recently reported a tantalizing, if very distant, possibility of being able to reset the appetite control switch in our brains. With an estimated 1.4 billion people overweight worldwide this could be a major boon to health and health care costs. In the U.S. alone weight related health issues cost more … Continue reading Stem cells discovered that might lead to on-off switch for appetite

We recently pulled together all our beautiful images of stem cells, patient advocates and snazzy science shots and created a virtual scrapbook on Pinterest. Pinterest has mainly been used as a way of collecting ideas for home projects or crafts, but in the past year it’s been picked up by scientific groups as a way … Continue reading Stem cell agency images and information now on Pinterest

Geoff Lomax is CIRM's Senior Officer to the Standards Working Group Human embryonic stem cells generated from embryos donated after vitro fertilizationAt CIRM, we often get questions from people wanting to know about donation of frozen embryos for use in research. The modified correspondence below is an example of the type of email I receive:My name … Continue reading Numbers matter in frozen embryo donation

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. Building blood vessels where you need them. One of the treats of my professional career was the opportunity to work with Judah Folkman, the brilliant … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye this week