Dr. Brigitte Gomperts (left) and Dr. Gay Crooks (right), UCLAImage Credit: UCLA Broad Stem Cell Center This past Friday, the CIRM Board approved funding for its first clinical study for COVID-19. In addition to this, the Board also approved two discovery stage research projects, which support promising new technologies that could be translated to enable … Continue reading Two UCLA scientists receive CIRM funding for discovery research for COVID-19
Discovery Research
CIRM Board Funds its First Clinical Study for COVID-19
Dr. John Zaia, City of hope Today the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) continued its commitment to help with the coronavirus pandemic by awarding $749,999 to Dr. John Zaia at City of Hope. He will be conducting a clinical study to administer blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients to treat … Continue reading CIRM Board Funds its First Clinical Study for COVID-19
Breaking bad news to stem cell researchers
It’s never easy to tell someone that they are too late, that they missed the deadline. It’s particularly hard when you know that the person you are telling that to has spent years working on a project and now needs money to take it to the next level. But in science, as in life, it’s … Continue reading Breaking bad news to stem cell researchers
Celebrating Exciting CIRM-Funded Discovery Research on World Parkinson’s Day
April 11th is World Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Day. To mark the occasion, we’re featuring the work of CIRM-funded researchers who are pursuing new, promising ideas to treat patients with this debilitating neurodegenerative disease. Birgitt Schuele, Parkinson’s Institute CIRM Grant: Quest Award – Discovery Stage Research Research: Birgitt and her team at the Parkinson’s Institute in … Continue reading Celebrating Exciting CIRM-Funded Discovery Research on World Parkinson’s Day
Budgeting for the future of the stem cell agency
Budgets are very rarely exciting things; but they are important. For example, it’s useful for a family to know when they go shopping exactly how much money they have so they know how much they can afford to spend. Stem cell agencies face the same constraints; you can’t spend more than you have. Last week … Continue reading Budgeting for the future of the stem cell agency
Getting faster, working smarter: how changing the way we work is paying big dividends
This blog is part of the Month of CIRM series Speeding up the way you do things isn’t always a good idea. Just ask someone who got a ticket for going 65mph in a 30mph zone. But at CIRM we have found that doing things at an accelerated pace is paying off in a big … Continue reading Getting faster, working smarter: how changing the way we work is paying big dividends
How Parkinson’s disease became personal for one stem cell researcher
April is Parkinson's disease Awareness Month. This year the date is particularly significant because 2017 is the 200th anniversary of the publication of British apothecary James Parkinson's "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy", which is now recognized as a seminal work in describing the disease. To mark the occasion we talked with Dr. Birgitt Schuele, … Continue reading How Parkinson’s disease became personal for one stem cell researcher
New stem cell could offer new ways to study birth defects
You never know what you are going to find in the trash. For a group of intrepid researchers at Michigan State University their discovery could lead to new ways of studying birth defects and other reproductive problems. Because what they found in what’s normally considered cellular trash was a new kind of stem cell. The … Continue reading New stem cell could offer new ways to study birth defects
If you want to accelerate stem cell therapies then create an Accelerating Center
“You can’t teach fish to fly,” is one of the phrases that our CIRM President & CEO, Randy Mills, likes to throw out when asked why we needed to create new centers to help researchers move their most promising therapies out of the lab and into clinical trials. His point is that many researchers are … Continue reading If you want to accelerate stem cell therapies then create an Accelerating Center
Board gives stem cell institute marching orders, and a road map
The poet T. S. Eliot once wrote: “If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” Well, everyone at CIRM, California’s stem cell institute, is about to find out how tall we are. Yesterday our governing Board approved a new Strategic Plan. To call it ambitious might be considered … Continue reading Board gives stem cell institute marching orders, and a road map