Every year, millions of Americans damage cartilage in their knees and other joints. These injuries can lead to osteoarthritis, pain, and loss of mobility. Today, the CIRM Board approved two projects to repair damaged cartilage.
The projects were among 17 awards approved through CIRM’s DISC2 Quest Discovery Program. The program supports promising stem cell and gene therapy technologies that could improve patient care.
Scripps Health
Dr. Darryl D’Lima and his team at Scripps Health received $1,620,645 to develop a treatment for torn menisci. About 750,000 Americans experience a meniscus tear each year. The meniscus cushions the knee and prevents bones from grinding together. These injuries accelerate osteoarthritis, for which joint replacement remains the only effective treatment.
The team will use stem cells to produce meniscal cells in the lab. They will seed those cells onto a collagen scaffold to create tissue that resembles a natural meniscus. The goal is to regenerate and repair damaged tissue after implantation in the knee.
This research builds on an earlier CIRM‑funded project and reflects our commitment to advancing promising science from the lab to the clinic.
Stone Research Foundation
Dr. Kevin Stone and his team at the Stone Research Foundation for Sports Medicine and Arthritis received $1,316,215 to develop a cartilage repair therapy using a patient’s own stem cells.
Their approach combines the patient’s cartilage tissue with mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow. The mixture is blended with an adhesive hydrogel to create a graft that supports cartilage growth and sticks to tissue without glue. The graft will complement a microfracture procedure, in which small holes are created in the underlying bone to attract stem cells and other healing cells.
The team hopes this two‑pronged strategy will produce an effective stem‑cell‑based cartilage repair treatment.
If successful, the approach could offer a minimally invasive, low‑cost, single‑procedure option for people with cartilage injuries and arthritis.
The full list of DISC2 grantees
| Application | Title | Principal Investigator and Institution | Amount |
| DISC2-13212 | Preclinical development of an exhaustion-resistant CAR-T stem cell for cancer immunotherapy | Ansuman Satpathy – Stanford University | $ 1,420,200 |
| DISC2-13051 | Generating deeper and more durable BCMA CAR T cell responses in Multiple Myeloma through non-viral knockin/knockout multiplexed genome engineering | Julia Carnevale – UC San Francisco | $ 1,463,368 |
| DISC2-13020 | Injectable, autologous iPSC-based therapy for spinal cord injury | Sarah Heilshorn – Stanford University | $789,000 |
| DISC2-13009 | New noncoding RNA chemical entity for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. | Eduardo Marban – Cedars-Sinai Medical Center | $1,397,412 |
| DISC2-13232 | Modulation of oral epithelium stem cells by RSpo1 for the prevention and treatment of oral mucositis | Jeffrey Linhardt – Intact Therapeutics Inc. | $942,050 |
| DISC2-13077 | Transplantation of genetically corrected iPSC-microglia for the treatment of Sanfilippo Syndrome (MPSIIIA) | Mathew Blurton-Jones – UC Irvine | $1,199,922 |
| DISC2-13201 | Matrix Assisted Cell Transplantation of Promyogenic Fibroadipogenic Progenitor (FAP) Stem Cells | Brian Feeley – UC San Francisco | $1,179,478 |
| DISC2-13063 | Improving the efficacy and tolerability of clinically validated remyelination-inducing molecules using developable combinations of approved drugs | Luke Lairson – Scripps Research Inst. | $1,554,126 |
| DISC2-13213 | Extending Immune-Evasive Human Islet-Like Organoids (HILOs) Survival and Function as a Cure for T1D | Ronald Evans – The Salk Institute for Biological Studies | $1,523,285 |
| DISC2-13136 | Meniscal Repair and Regeneration | Darryl D’Lima – Scripps Health | $1,620,645 |
| DISC2-13072 | Providing a cure for sphingosine phosphate lyase insufficiency syndrome (SPLIS) through adeno-associated viral mediated SGPL1 gene therapy | Julie Saba – UC San Francisco | $1,463,400 |
| DISC2-13205 | iPSC-derived smooth muscle cell progenitor conditioned medium for treatment of pelvic organ prolapse | Bertha Chen – Stanford University | $1,420,200 |
| DISC2-13102 | RNA-directed therapy for Huntington’s disease | Gene Wei-Ming Yeo – UC San Diego | $1,408,923 |
| DISC2-13131 | A Novel Therapy for Articular Cartilage Autologous Cellular Repair by Paste Grafting | Kevin Stone – The Stone Research Foundation for Sports Medicine and Arthritis | $1,316,215 |
| DISC2-13013 | Optimization of a gene therapy for inherited erythromelalgia in iPSC-derived neurons | Ana Moreno – Navega Therapeutics | $1,157,313 |
| DISC2-13221 | Development of a novel stem-cell based carrier for intravenous delivery of oncolytic viruses | Edward Filardo – Cytonus Therapeutics, Inc. | $899,342 |
| DISC2-13163 | iPSC Extracellular Vesicles for Diabetes Therapy | Song Li – UC Los Angeles | $1,354,928 |
I live in Winston-Salem n.c and I have osteoarthritis in my knees and severe scoliosis and degenerative disease and am in a great deal of pain. I can barely stand or even walk. I’ve read about these researches and don’t know what would be the best for me. The thought of surgery scares me but I’m at my wit’s end. I’m 68 yrs old. Can someone get in touch with me and talk to me about this and what I can do. I’ve been suffering for almost 10 yrs and I need something done. I pray you will find the time to help me. I’m not able to travel plus I don’t have transportation to get anywhere but I do live very close to Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem N. C. Thank you for your time.