Building a new mouse, one stem cell at a time

Science is full of acronyms. There are days where it feels like you need a decoder ring just to understand a simple sentence. A recent study found that between 1950 and 2019 researchers used more than 1.1 million unique acronyms in scientific papers. There’s even an acronym for three letter acronyms. It’s TLAs. Which of … Continue reading Building a new mouse, one stem cell at a time

CIRM-funded study discovers potential therapy for one of the leading causes of heart disease

Dr. Deepak Srivastava and his team found a drug candidate that could help prevent tens of thousands of heart surgeries every year. Image Credit: Gladstones Institute According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United … Continue reading CIRM-funded study discovers potential therapy for one of the leading causes of heart disease

Driving Innovation While Addressing Health Disparities Among People of Color

Image courtesy of Science Photo Library One of the wonders of regenerative medicine is its broad applicability, which provides us with the opportunity to build upon existing knowledge and concepts.  In the midst of a global pandemic, researchers have responded to the needs of patients severely afflicted with COVID-19 by repurposing existing therapies being developed … Continue reading Driving Innovation While Addressing Health Disparities Among People of Color

Stories that caught our eye: FDA grants orphan drug status to CIRM-funded therapy; stunning discovery upends ideas of cell formation; and how tadpoles grow new tails

Gut busting discovery Intestinal stem cells: Photo courtesy Klaus Kaestner, Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine It’s not often you read the word “sensational” in a news release about stem cells. But this week researchers at the University of Copenhagen released findings that are overturning long-held ideas about the development of cells in our stomachs. So … Continue reading Stories that caught our eye: FDA grants orphan drug status to CIRM-funded therapy; stunning discovery upends ideas of cell formation; and how tadpoles grow new tails

Gene-editing Technique in Mice Shows Promise for Genetic Disorder in Utero

For first time ever, scientists used a gene editing technique to successfully cure a genetic condition in a mouse in utero. Their findings present a promising new avenue for research into treating genetic conditions in utero.

How a tiny patch of skin helped researchers save the life of a young boy battling a deadly disease

  By any standards epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a nasty disease. It’s a genetic condition that causes the skin to blister, break and tear off. At best, it’s painful and disfiguring. At worst, it can be fatal. Now researchers in Italy have come up with an approach that could offer hope for people battling the … Continue reading How a tiny patch of skin helped researchers save the life of a young boy battling a deadly disease

Discovering stem cells and science at Discovery Day

Someone stole my thigh bone. One minute it was there. The next, gone. I have narrowed down the list of suspects to the more than 25,000 people attending Discovery Day at San Francisco’s AT&T Park. To be honest, the bone was just a laminated image of a bone, stuck to the image of a person … Continue reading Discovering stem cells and science at Discovery Day

How stem cells made the list of scientific breakthroughs of 2014 (twice actually)

This is the time of year when everyone puts out their lists of the best and worst of the last 12 months. The best movies (”Guardians of the Galaxy”, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”) the worst movies (“Guardians of the Galaxy”, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” – it’s all a matter of taste really) the best music … Continue reading How stem cells made the list of scientific breakthroughs of 2014 (twice actually)

A look at 2014: some of the lowlights of stem cell research this past year

It’s been quite a year in stem cell research. Here at the stem cell agency eight projects that we are funding have been approved for clinical trials and several more hope to get approval in early 2015. And Dr. Don Kohn and his team at UCLA announced that they have effectively cured Severe Combined Immunodeficiency … Continue reading A look at 2014: some of the lowlights of stem cell research this past year

Discovery Days; bringing new life to the life sciences

Here are three words you don’t often see strung together: free, science, extravaganza. Yet that’s how Saturday’s Discovery Days at AT&T Park in San Francisco (home of the newly crowned baseball world champion Giants) is being described. The event truly is a celebration of science. It features more than 150 exhibits on everything from stem … Continue reading Discovery Days; bringing new life to the life sciences