By Holly Alyssa MacCormick Some of the biggest advances in autism research have come from a unique and dedicated group—the families and patient advocates who live with autism every day. Matthew State, MD, PhD, chief scientific advisor for the Aligning Research to Impact Autism (ARIA) initiative and chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the … Continue reading How patient advocates help advance profound autism research
Principal investigator Alex Pollen, PhD, with his co-investigators and team of researchers. A UC San Francisco–led research team, supported by a $12.2 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), is exploring potential gene therapy for treatments autism as well as other neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. The project is … Continue reading Exploring Gene Therapy Treatments for 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
Dr. Alysson Muotri, UC San Diego Normally, if someone keeps a mini‑fridge full of brains, your first instinct is to call the police. But when that person is Dr. Alysson Muotri of UC San Diego, your next thought is, “Tell me more.” Muotri is fascinated by the human brain. His research explores how the brain … Continue reading Studying autism using brain organoids
Last week, two new papers came out echoing each other about the dangers of bogus “therapies” being offered by predatory stem cell clinics and the risks they pose to patients. Unapproved Interventions The first was from the Pew Charitable Trusts The Pew report is titled “Unapproved Stem Cell Interventions Highlight Need for Greater FDA Enforcement,” … Continue reading Two voices, one message, watch out for predatory stem cell clinics
On March 19th we held a special Facebook Live "Ask the Stem Cell Team About Autism" event. We were fortunate enough to have two great experts - Dr. Alysson Muotri from UC San Diego, and CIRM's own Dr. Kelly Shepard. As always there is a lot of ground to cover in under one hour and … Continue reading Ask the Stem Cell Team About Autism
These are definitely strange, unusual and challenging times. Every day seems to bring new restrictions on what we can and should do. All, of course, in the name of protecting us and helping us avoid a potentially deadly virus. We all hope this will soon pass but we also know the bigger impact of the … Continue reading Why “Ask the Stem Cell Team” Remains Important
Do an online search for “autism stem cells” and you quickly come up with numerous websites offering stem cell therapies for autism. They offer encouraging phrases like “new and effective approach” and “a real, lasting treatment.” They even include dense scientific videos featuring people like Dr. Arnold Caplan, a professor at Case Western Reserve University … Continue reading Ask the Stem Cell Team About Autism
Brain organoids in a petri dish: photo courtesy UCSD For several years, researchers have been able to take stem cells and use them to make three dimensional structures called organoids. These are a kind of mini organ that scientists can then use to study what happens in the real thing. For example, creating kidney organoids … Continue reading “Brains” in a dish that can create electrical impulses
All this week we have been highlighting blogs from our SPARK (Summer Program to Accelerate Regenerative medicine Knowledge) students. SPARK gives high school students a chance to spend their summer working in a world class stem cell research facility here in California. In return they write about their experiences and what they learned. The standard … Continue reading A future scientist’s journey