When Alameda-based biotech company and CIRM awardee Scribe Therapeutics raised over $155 million from a recent IPO, it became the latest in a series of companies developing CIRM-supported therapies that have gone public or netted significant follow-on funding and investment. That’s good news for Californians whose tax dollars support the companies’ work. While biotech IPOs … Continue reading Another proof point from CIRM-supported research
Antiretroviral drugs have turned HIV/AIDS from a fatal disease into one that can often be controlled, but they are not a cure. That’s why the CIRM Board approved $6.85 million for a therapy designed to cure the disease. This is CIRM’s 82nd funded clinical trial. Millions impacted About 38 million people worldwide live with HIV/AIDS, … Continue reading Funding a Clinical Trial for a Functional Cure for HIV
Clinical fellow Brian Shy talks with postdoctoral scholar Tori Yamamoto in the Marson Lab at Gladstone Institutes on June 8th, 2022. Photo courtesy Gladstone Institutes. For years, scientists have touted the potential of CRISPR, a gene-editing tool that lets you target a specific mutation and either cut it out or replace it with the corrected form of … Continue reading A better, faster, more effective way to edit genes
THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST Researchers use mRNA to introduce the gene editor CRISPR-Cas9 into human muscle stem cells. These cells fused into multinucleated myotubes following mRNA-mediated CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. A myosin heavy chain is seen in green and the nuclei in blue. Photo: Spuler Lab A team of researchers from … Continue reading How mRNA and CRISPR-Cas9 could treat muscle atrophy
There’s good news for a company and a therapeutic approach CIRM has supported for many years. ViaCyte's approach to T1D In September 2018, CRISPR Therapeutics and ViaCyte partnered. Together, they aim to develop gene‑edited, stem‑cell‑derived therapies for type 1 diabetes. Now, they may be one step closer. Last week, the companies jointly announced they had … Continue reading First patient in Type 1 diabetes clinical trial
ViaCyte's implantable cell-based therapy for type 1 diabetes THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST Taking even the most promising therapy and moving it out of the lab and into people is an incredibly complex process and usually requires a great team. Now, two great teams have paired up to do just that … Continue reading Type 1 diabetes therapy gets go-ahead for clinical trial
YOU CAN LISTEN TO THIS BLOG AS AN AUDIOCAST ON SPOTIFY Developing new tools to edit genes Having the right tools to do a job is important. Try using a large screwdriver to tighten the screws on your glasses and you quickly appreciate that it’s not just the type of tool that’s important, it’s also … Continue reading Tiny tools for the smallest of tasks, editing genes
Graphite Bio, a CIRM-catalyzed spinout from Stanford University that launched just 14 months ago, has now filed the official SEC paperwork for an initial public offering (IPO). CIRM-funded researchers Matt Porteus, M.D., Ph.D., and Maria Grazia Roncarolo, M.D., formed the company. Six years ago, Dr. Porteus and Dr. Roncarolo, in conjunction with Stanford University, received … Continue reading CIRM-catalyzed spinout files for IPO to develop therapies for genetic diseases
Sickle shaped red blood cells The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), in collaboration with UC Berkeley (UCB) and UC Los Angeles (UCLA), have been given permission by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to launch a first-in-human clinical trial using CRISPR technology as a gene-editing technique to cure Sickle Cell Disease. This research … Continue reading Three UC’s Join Forces to Launch CRISPR Clinical Trial Targeting Sickle Cell Disease
The problem with trying to write about something like Women’s History Month is where do you start? Even if you narrow it down to women in science the list is vast. Marie Curie I suppose you could always start with Maria Salomea Skłodowska who is better known as Marie Curie. She not only discovered radium … Continue reading Women who have changed, and are changing, the world