Our 2025 Annual Report, Looking Forward: Advancing California’s Scientific Vision, is here. This year’s report captures a future-focused mission that highlights progress, momentum, and long-term impact. It reflects California’s leadership in science, evokes hope and possibility, and embraces continual advancement in regenerative medicine. Inside the report, you'll find: Powerful Voices: Patients, families, and researchers share … Continue reading Explore how CIRM is advancing California’s scientific vision
Annual Report
The Stem Cellar’s Most Read Blogs of 2024
2024 was a significant year for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). We reached major milestones, celebrated our 20th anniversary, and introduced our Strategic Allocation Framework (SAF) impact goals. We did this all while continuing to fund innovative work in regenerative medicine. The Stem Cellar blog is where we share these stories, providing readers … Continue reading The Stem Cellar’s Most Read Blogs of 2024
Celebrating Two Decades of Progress with CIRM’s 2024 Annual Report
Celebrate with us our two decades of progress. Our 2024 Annual Report highlights 20 years of advancing regenerative medicine. For twenty years, CIRM has pushed the boundaries of stem cell and gene therapy. We have funded more than 109 clinical trials and built the infrastructure that drives research and development. Our work has fueled innovation, … Continue reading Celebrating Two Decades of Progress with CIRM’s 2024 Annual Report
Patient advocacy forged from adversity
Regina Karchner - Photo courtesy of Nancy Ramos Photography Regina Karchner says she feels as if she’s been a patient advocate for people with brain cancer almost from birth. When she was three, her father died of a brain tumor. When she was 16, Regina was diagnosed with brain cancer. While in the hospital, she … Continue reading Patient advocacy forged from adversity
Unlocking the secrets of autism
Dr. Alysson Muotri, in his lab at UCSD For Dr. Alysson Muotri, unlocking autism’s biology is personal. His son has autism, and Muotri hopes to help him and millions of others. A Mission to Understand Autism He launched the Tooth Fairy Project, which collected more than 3,000 donated baby teeth from children with and without … Continue reading Unlocking the secrets of autism
Saying thanks and farewell to a friend
Tom Howing In this job you get to meet a lot of remarkable people, none more so than the patients who volunteer to take part in what are giant experiments. They are courageous pioneers, willing to be among the first people to ever try a new therapy, knowing that it may not help them and, … Continue reading Saying thanks and farewell to a friend
Hitting our Goals: Playing Matchmaker
Way, way back in 2015 – seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it – the team at CIRM sat down and planned out our Big 6 goals for the next five years. The end result was a Strategic Plan that was bold, ambitious, and set us on course to do great things or kill ourselves … Continue reading Hitting our Goals: Playing Matchmaker
Byron’s story
Bryon Jenkin’s is one of the people we profiled in our recent 18 Month Report. The theme of the report is “Perseverance” and Byron certainly epitomizes that. This is his story. Photo of Byron Jenkins - hand on the plane - in his Navy fighter pilot days A former Navy flight officer and accomplished athlete … Continue reading Byron’s story
Perseverance: from theory to therapy. Our story over the last year – and a half
Some of the stars of our Annual Report It’s been a long time coming. Eighteen months to be precise. Which is a peculiarly long time for an Annual Report. The world is certainly a very different place today than when we started, and yet our core mission hasn’t changed at all, except to spring into … Continue reading Perseverance: from theory to therapy. Our story over the last year – and a half
The treatment that saved Evie Vaccaro
Evie Vaccaro You can see in this photo that Evie Vaccaro is full of energy and life. It sometimes feels as if I have known her forever. In a way, I have. I feel lucky for that, and this photo is powerful because her life nearly ended before it began. Evie was born with severe … Continue reading The treatment that saved Evie Vaccaro