CIRM-Funded Scientists Identify Cause; Potential Therapy for Deadly Form of Eye Cancer

If the cancer is caught early, you may just lose your eye. If it is caught too late, however, you may lose your life. uch is the fate of those diagnosed with uveal melanoma, a rare but deadly form of eye cancer that attacks the eye’s pigment cells in the iris. Each year about 2,000 … Continue reading CIRM-Funded Scientists Identify Cause; Potential Therapy for Deadly Form of Eye Cancer

Behind the Bench: One Student’s Mission to Fight Ataxia

Jackie Ward is a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and former CIRM trainee. At UCSD uses stem cells as a model to study rare neurodegenerative diseases in the lab of Albert La Spada. My work as a PhD student focuses on a rare form of inherited neurodegeneration called spinocerebellar ataxia. … Continue reading Behind the Bench: One Student’s Mission to Fight Ataxia

Cell Therapy to Treat Autism

Given the complexity of autism, researchers have struggled to detemine its causes and the best way to treat, but CIRM grantee Dr. Alysson Muotri of UC San Diego, is turning to cell therapy to treat autism, specifically stem cells— and help from the tooth fairy—to begin answering those questions. Fairy Tooth Kit He set out … Continue reading Cell Therapy to Treat Autism

Key Protein Involved in Forming Nuclear Membrane after Division Found

Researchers at UC, San Diego found the function of a key protein involved in the cell cycle, the process by which a cell duplicates all its genes and divides. The protein is critical to the assembly of the membrane around the cell's nucleus. A fundamental understanding of the cell cycle is integral to advancing all … Continue reading Key Protein Involved in Forming Nuclear Membrane after Division Found