Today a CIRM-funded disease team working toward a therapy for type 1 diabetes received additional support and endorsement from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). The project, led by San Diego-based Viacyte, received almost $20 million in funding from CIRM in October 2009.The goal of the ViaCyte project is to mature embryonic stem cells into … Continue reading JDRF supports CIRM diabetes disease team led by ViaCyte

On December 8 of last year, CIRM received the insights and recommendations from a blue ribbon panel of external experts charged with evaluating the agency’s progress to date. (Here is a copy of that report, and CIRM’s press release.)Less than a year later, on October 26, 2011 the ICOC approved the first of a three-part … Continue reading Opportunity Fund addresses review panel’s recommendations

Jonathan Thomas is Chair of the CIRM governing boardYesterday our governing board met for the first time since Geron announced the decision to terminate their stem cell research program. I wanted to take that opportunity to address the board and let them know my strong commitment to CIRM’s stem cell research program. When Geron made … Continue reading Jonathan Thomas reflects on the state of stem cell research

Elongated green cells are sensory neurons – which sense smells and relay that information to the brain – that originated from olfactory stem cells in the nose. Cells labeled in red are immature cells in the process of differentiating into neurons and other mature cell types. (Photomicrograph by Russell Fletcher, UC Berkeley)A rose may smell … Continue reading Stem cell discovery could help people regain smell

The Canadian Stem Cell Network posted an interesting item on their blog today about the relationship between stem cells and our sleep/wake cycle (also called the circadian rhythm). David Kent, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge, writes about the work, which was published online in Nature November 9:The group of Salvador Aznar Benitah … Continue reading Mess with the body’s clock, mess with stem cells

Geoff Lomax is CIRM's Senior Officer to the Standards Working Group The history of technology tells us that the first strategy is rarely the one that sticks. One of my favorite examples involves the English clock maker John Harris, whose many iterations of marine chronometers revolutionized sea travel. (His story is recounted in Dava Sobel’s … Continue reading Clocks & stem cells: Time and tinkering to develop the best embryonic stem cells

Each month CIRM President Alan Trounson gives his perspective on recently published papers he thinks will be valuable in moving the field of stem cell research forward. This month’s report, along with an archive of past reports, is available on the CIRM website. This month’s literature produced a number of studies that can be glibly … Continue reading Guest blogger Alan Trounson — November’s stem cell research highlights

Jeff Sheehy is director for communications at the AIDS Research Institute at UCSF, and a member of the CIRM governing board. Two articles in major newspapers—the New York Times and London's Financial Times—are highlighting the growing movement advocating for research towards a cure for HIV in the lead up to World AIDS Day on December … Continue reading World AIDS Day 2011 — Buzz about a Cure for HIV, CIRM Leading

In La Jolla, stem cell scientists, companies and investors are engaging in a series of CIRM-sponsored get-to-know-you meetings as part of the first ever partnering forum in conjunction with the annual Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesa. These meetings are part of CIRM's ramped-up efforts to help scientists overcome obstacles on the path to clinical … Continue reading CIRM helping stem cell scientists and investors pair up

One of the biggest hurdles in understanding and treating neurological diseases is figuring out what has gone awry with those cells. People aren't generally eager to donate a chunk of their brains for research. With the advent of reprogrammed iPS cells scientists have been able to recreate the diseases in a lab dish and begin … Continue reading Autism-like syndrome modeled by in a lab dish