In honor of Huntington’s Disease (HD) Awareness Month, we’re featuring a guest blog by HD patient advocate Daniel Medina. Daniel became actively involved in the HD community when he learned that his younger brother was at risk for inheriting this devastating neurodegenerative disease. Since then he has been a champion for HD awareness by organizing … Continue reading Advocating for Huntington’s Disease: Daniel Medina’s Journey
Huntington’s
Stem Cell Stories That Caught Our Eye: Free Patient Advocate Event in San Diego, and new clues on how to fix muscular dystrophy and Huntington’s disease
Stem cell research is advancing so fast that it’s sometimes hard to keep up. That’s one of the reasons we have our Friday roundup, to let you know about some fascinating research that came across our desk during the week that you might otherwise have missed. Of course, another way to keep up with the … Continue reading Stem Cell Stories That Caught Our Eye: Free Patient Advocate Event in San Diego, and new clues on how to fix muscular dystrophy and Huntington’s disease
Stem cells reveal developmental defects in Huntington’s disease
Three letters—CAG—determine whether a person is healthy or develops Huntington’s disease. HD is a progressive brain disorder that affects movement, cognition, and personality. More than 30,000 Americans have HD, and no treatment can slow the disease. HD stems from a mutation in the huntingtin gene caused by an expanded CAG repeat. People with fewer than … Continue reading Stem cells reveal developmental defects in Huntington’s disease
A ‘Call to Action’ for change at the FDA
It’s bad enough to have to battle a debilitating and ultimately deadly disease like Huntington’s disease (HD). But it becomes doubly difficult and frustrating when you feel that the best efforts to develop a therapy for HD are running into a brick wall. That’s how patients and patient advocates working on HD feel as they … Continue reading A ‘Call to Action’ for change at the FDA
Using stem cells to fix bad behavior in the brain
Diseases of the brain have many different names, from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to ALS and Huntington’s, but they often have similar causes. Researchers at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco are using that knowledge to try and find an approach that might be effective against all of these diseases. In a new CIRM-funded study, … Continue reading Using stem cells to fix bad behavior in the brain
Advancing Stem Cell Research at the CIRM Bridges Conference
The Bridges program is one of CIRM’s educational initiatives that gives students the chance to take coursework at California state schools and community colleges while conducting stem cell research at top universities and industry labs. The goal is to train the next generation of stem cell scientists by giving them the skills and experience they … Continue reading Advancing Stem Cell Research at the CIRM Bridges Conference
On the Hunt for Huntington’s Disease Treatments in the New Millennium
“Over the next five to ten years, we want to make Huntington’s disease an increasingly treatable condition.” This bold and inspiring statement was made by Dr. Ray Dorsey at the inaugural HD-CARE symposium for Huntington’s disease (HD) research held at UC Irvine last month. The event brought together scientists, doctors, patients, family members, and caregivers … Continue reading On the Hunt for Huntington’s Disease Treatments in the New Millennium
The Critical Role of Patient Advocates in Accelerating Stem Cell Cures
At CIRM, our goal is to bring stem cell therapies to patients with unmet medical needs, and we do that by funding the most promising and innovative research in regenerative medicine. A critical component of this goal is to support our patient advocates and make sure that their voices are heard. At this year’s World … Continue reading The Critical Role of Patient Advocates in Accelerating Stem Cell Cures
CIRM Scholar Spotlight: Berkeley’s Maroof Adil on stem cell transplants for Parkinson’s disease
Stem cell therapy has a lot of potential for Parkinson’s patients and the scientists that study it. One of our very own CIRM scholars, Maroof Adil, is making it his mission to develop stem cell based therapies to treat brain degenerating diseases like Parkinson’s. Maroof got his undergraduate degrees from MIT in both Chemical Engineering … Continue reading CIRM Scholar Spotlight: Berkeley’s Maroof Adil on stem cell transplants for Parkinson’s disease
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: Parkinson’s in a dish, synthetic blood, tracking Huntington’s and cloning
Here are some stem cell stories that caught our eye this past week. Some are groundbreaking science, others are of personal interest to us, and still others are just fun. 3D nerve model for Parkinson’s. The wave of successes in making more complex tissues in three dimensional lab cultures continues this week with a team … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: Parkinson’s in a dish, synthetic blood, tracking Huntington’s and cloning