“How do you mend a broken heart?” was the topic of one of our recent Stem Cellar blogs highlighting a stellar CIRM-funded publication on the regenerative abilities of the protein FSTL1 following heart injury. One of the master-minds behind this study is co-first author Ke Wei. Ke is a postdoc in Dr. Mark Mercola’s lab … Continue reading CIRM scholar Ke Wei talks heart regeneration
UC Los Angeles
Protein Revs Up Bone Stem Cells; Points Toward Future Osteoporosis Drug
Take a moment to feel your arm and wrist bones. They’re a lot more like solid rock than the soft stretchy skin that covers them. But bone is very much a living tissue continually being broken down and built back up in a process called bone remodeling. In people with osteoporosis, this balance tips toward … Continue reading Protein Revs Up Bone Stem Cells; Points Toward Future Osteoporosis Drug
New Video: Defeating Sickle Cell Disease with Stem Cells + Gene Therapy
Suffering with an incurable illness is no laughing matter. But last year when we debuted the pilot episode of Stem Cells in Your Face, a lighthearted video series that describes specific diseases and explains the latest progress in stem cell-based therapies, we hoped that a mix of science and humor would help make the information … Continue reading New Video: Defeating Sickle Cell Disease with Stem Cells + Gene Therapy
CIRM-Funded Scientists Build a Better Neuron; Gain New Insight into Motor Neuron Disease
Each individual muscle in our body—no matter how large or how small—is controlled by several types of motor neurons. Damage to one or more types of these neurons can give rise to some of the most devastating motor neuron diseases, many of which have no cure. But now, stem cell scientists at UCLA have manufactured … Continue reading CIRM-Funded Scientists Build a Better Neuron; Gain New Insight into Motor Neuron Disease
One-Time, Lasting Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease May be on Horizon, According to New CIRM-Funded Study
For the nearly 1,000 babies born each year in the United States with sickle cell disease, a painful and arduous road awaits them. The only cure is to find a bone marrow donor—an exceedingly rare proposition. Instead, the standard treatment for this inherited blood disorder is regular blood transfusions, with repeated hospitalizations to deal with … Continue reading One-Time, Lasting Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease May be on Horizon, According to New CIRM-Funded Study
Scientists Send Rodents to Space; Test New Therapy to Prevent Bone Loss
In just a few months, 40 very special rodents will embark upon the journey of a lifetime. Today UCLA scientists are announcing the start of a project that will test a new therapy that has the potential to slow, halt or even reverse bone loss due to disease or injury. With grant funding from the … Continue reading Scientists Send Rodents to Space; Test New Therapy to Prevent Bone Loss
CIRM-funded scientists track the steps that take an adult cell back in time
The ability to transform an adult cell back into a stem cell has been heralded as one of the greatest achievements of the 21st century. Scientists have lauded this discovery, made by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Shinya Yamanaka, as a game changer for the future of medicine. Despite this extraordinary advance, the method remains inefficient. And … Continue reading CIRM-funded scientists track the steps that take an adult cell back in time
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
Taking stock: ten years of the stem cell agency, progress and promise for the future
Under some circumstances ten years can seem like a lifetime. But when lives are at stake, ten years can fly by in a flash. Ten years ago the people of California created the stem cell agency when they overwhelmingly approved Proposition 71, giving us $3 billion to fund and support stem cell research in the … Continue reading Taking stock: ten years of the stem cell agency, progress and promise for the future
UCLA team cures infants of often-fatal “bubble baby” disease by inserting gene in their stem cells; sickle cell disease is next target
Poopy diapers, ear-splitting cries, and sleepless nights: sure, the first few weeks of parenthood are grueling but those other moments of cuddling and kissing your little baby are pure bliss. That wasn’t the case for Alysia and Christian Padilla-Vacarro of Corona, California. Close contact with their infant daughter Evangelina, born in 2012, was off limits. … Continue reading UCLA team cures infants of often-fatal “bubble baby” disease by inserting gene in their stem cells; sickle cell disease is next target
The Stem Cellar 