“About a week later they gave me a call and mentioned the word ‘cancer’ to me. For a long time, I was depressed and then, I guess you accept it and try to make the most out of the time you have now.’ That is not something you expect to hear from a 24 year … Continue reading Stem cell therapy offers a glimpse of hope for a student battling a deadly cancer
UCLA
Research Targeting Prostate Cancer Gets Almost $4 Million Support from CIRM
A program hoping to supercharge a patient’s own immune system cells to attack and kill a treatment resistant form of prostate cancer was today awarded $3.99 million by the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) In the U.S., prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in men. … Continue reading Research Targeting Prostate Cancer Gets Almost $4 Million Support from CIRM
The story behind the book about the Stem Cell Agency
WHY I WROTE “CALIFORNIA CURES” By Don C. Reed It was Wednesday, June 13th, 2018, the launch day for my new book, “CALIFORNIA CURES: How the California Stem Cell Research Program is Fighting Your Incurable Disease!” As I stood in front of the audience of scientists, CIRM staff members, patient advocates, I thought to myself, … Continue reading The story behind the book about the Stem Cell Agency
SCID kid scores big on TV
One of the stories I never tire of telling is about Evie Vaccaro. She’s the little girl who was born with a fatal immune condition called severe combined immunodeficiency or SCID. Children with this condition have no immune system, no protection against infections, and often die in the first two years of life. But thanks … Continue reading SCID kid scores big on TV
CIRM invests in stem cell clinical trial targeting lung cancer and promising research into osteoporosis and incontinence
The five-year survival rate for people diagnosed with the most advanced stage of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is pretty grim, only between one and 10 percent. To address this devastating condition, the Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) today voted to invest almost $12 million in a team from UCLA that … Continue reading CIRM invests in stem cell clinical trial targeting lung cancer and promising research into osteoporosis and incontinence
TELL ME WHAT I NEED TO KNOW: A Patient Advocate’s guide to being a Patient Advocate
A few weeks ago I was at the CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinic Network Symposium at UCLA and was fortunate enough to hear Gianna McMillan speak about patient advocacy. It was a powerful, moving, funny, and truly engaging talk. I quickly realized I wanted to blog about her talk and so for the first few … Continue reading TELL ME WHAT I NEED TO KNOW: A Patient Advocate’s guide to being a Patient Advocate
Stem Cell Agency’s supporting role in advancing research for rare diseases
The recent agreement transferring GSK’s rare disease gene therapies to Orchard Therapeutics was good news for both companies and for the patients who are hoping this research could lead to new treatments, even cures, for some rare diseases. It was also good news for CIRM, which played a key role in helping Orchard grow to … Continue reading Stem Cell Agency’s supporting role in advancing research for rare diseases
Stem Cell Roundup: Improving muscle function in muscular dystrophy; Building a better brain; Boosting efficiency in making iPSC’s
Here are the stem cell stories that caught our eye this week. Photos of the week TGIF! We’re so excited that the weekend is here that we are sharing not one but TWO amazing stem cell photos of the week. Photo #1 is borrowed from a blog we wrote earlier this week about a new … Continue reading Stem Cell Roundup: Improving muscle function in muscular dystrophy; Building a better brain; Boosting efficiency in making iPSC’s
CIRM-Funded Scientist is Developing a Stem Cell Therapy that Could Cure HIV
This week, UCLA scientist Scott Kitchen made the news for his efforts to develop a CIRM-funded stem cell gene therapy that could potentially cure patients infected with HIV. Kitchen’s work was profiled in the Daily Beast, which argued that his “research could significantly up survival rates from the virus.” Kitchen and a team of scientists … Continue reading CIRM-Funded Scientist is Developing a Stem Cell Therapy that Could Cure HIV
UCLA scientists make sensory nerves from human stem cells for the first time
Being able to tell the difference between hot and cold or feeling the embrace of a loved one are experiences that many of us take for granted in our daily lives. But paralyzed patients who have lost their sense of touch don’t have this luxury. Sensory nerves are cells in the spinal cord that send … Continue reading UCLA scientists make sensory nerves from human stem cells for the first time
The Stem Cellar 