Families learn about stem cell research at the Bay Area Science Festival When San Francisco Giants star Buster Posey was rounding the bases at AT&T park after hitting a grand slam home run that sent the team to the World Series against the Detroit Tigers he probably wasn't aware that I was rounding the bases close … Continue reading A lesson on stem cells through Play Doh and more fun from the Bay Area Science Festival

Eight years ago today, 59% of California voters said yes to funding stem cell research in the state. That vote created the state’s stem cell agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Since then, we had to fight off legal hurdles, encourage California researchers to start working in the field, and build those researchers quality … Continue reading Happy Birthday CIRM! We’re turning 8 today

Ten years from now, what therapies will come out of stem cell research? We recently asked Larry Goldstein of UC San Diego to make his prediction. Will his work in Alzheimer’s disease be in clinical trials? What about the diabetes, brain cancer, HIV/AIDS and other CIRM-funded projects that are close to clinical trials? Will those … Continue reading Looking into the stem cell crystal ball: what’s next?

Today the San Francisco Giants will be celebrating their World Series victory with a parade that will draw hundreds of thousands of fans to AT&T park, directly across the street from CIRM headquarters. With sports so much on our minds here at CIRM, this seems like a good day to talk about stem cells in … Continue reading On stem cells, athletics and the world series (Go Giants!)

CIRM is cosponsoring the Investor and Partnering Forum at the Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesa in San Diego. It's an effort to build relationships between investors, companies, and entrepreneurial academics.Stem cells have been in the news a lot lately thanks to Nobel prizes and scientific discoveries. But for many biotech companies all the good … Continue reading Relationship building in San Diego: Bringing investors into regenerative medicine

Yesterday, at a meeting of our governing board – the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC) – we were delighted to see a project we have helped nurture from a cool theory into a truly promising therapy head towards clinical trials in people. The ICOC approved funding for a ViaCyte stem cell therapy for type 1 … Continue reading Diabetes stem cell therapy moving toward clinical trials

CIRM grantee at UCLA Michael Teitell spoke with high school students on Stem Cell Awareness DayMichael Teitell working with one of his lab studentsWhen speaking with high school students one learns to always expect the unexpected. Such visits can be exhilarating and surprising and are never boring. I was asked to write a guest blog … Continue reading UCLA scientist shares stem cell research with the next generation

Astronomer Caroline Herschel was one of those to get full entry on Wikipedia.Tielemann, 1829/W. J. Herschel/The Royal SocietyAs a former woman in science and a current woman in online media, a story from Nature this week struck home. They write about an edit-a-thon held by the Royal Society in London, which brought in 15 female … Continue reading Women in science get a boost from women in online media

By far the predominant stem cell therapy today is a bone marrow transplant. The 60,000 people who receive a transplant this year have Nobel Laureate E. Donnall Thomas to thank for the treatment. Thomas, who died this week, began working on bone marrow transplants back in the 1950s, when the prevailing wisdom held that no … Continue reading Father of bone marrow transplant — first stem cell therapy — dies

Tony Wyss-CorayIn addition to their usual job of creating new cells, stem cells in the brain turn out to be excellent managers. That’s according to CIRM-funded researchers at Stanford University, who have recently published a paper describing how stem cells in the brain control the behavior of other cells.The work could help explain why stem … Continue reading Who’s the boss of the brain? How stem cells repair damage