#cirm future

$5 Billion more? 2 polls on funding CIRM again

Today I’m doing 2 polls on the future of the California stem cell agency better known as CIRM as it hangs in the balance, awaiting the results of us California voters going to the polls in November. At that time, Californians will vote on the new proposition that would fund CIRM for $5 billion more.

You can read the proposition here.

There has been some disagreement even amongst CIRM supporters…

News bites: CIRM, anti-MSCs, & human eggs from stem cells

Stem cells are always in the news so what’s up in the last week or two?

Human eggs from stem cells stained pink; Saitou Lab CIRM News

The dialogue over CIRM’s future is picking up a bit of steam. The San Francisco Chronicle did an in-depth piece on CIRM some weeks back and then opined that they didn’t feel supportive of another round of funding. I disagree. I think CIRM is a good future…

Each year I make a list of predictions for the year to come for the stem cell and regenerative medicine field.

Then about a year later I grade myself on how I did as that year winds down. Here’s how I did in 2016.

For 2017, late in 2016 I made 20 stem cell predictions. Let’s now see how I did.

I was wrong on 6 out of the 20 predictions and mostly right on the restwith some others in the middle…

Update on CIRM’s future: will it include 2020 measure?

Robert Klein, 2017 CIRM Meeting. Image credit: California Stem Cell Report

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, more widely known as CIRM, has accomplished big things over the course of its history of about a decade and sparked a great deal of innovation, but what does the future hold for our stem cell agency?

CIRM has a new, respected President and CEO Maria Millan solving one of…

Cool stem cell papers: antibody reprogramming, organoids, gravity, & more

Gut organoid, picture from JAMA

The past few weeks have brought some exciting, thought-provoking stem cell papers and developments in the regenerative medicine field.

Here’s a list of stem cell papers in the media that struck me as particularly cool along with some other developments in the field.

Human Stem Cells Fight Parkinson’s Disease in Monkeys

Organoids Reveal Clues to Gut-Brain…

President Mills Leaving, CIRM Needs New Leader to Navigate Future Challenges

CIRM announced today that its President and CEO, Randy Mills, is soon leaving for a new job as President of the National Marrow Donor Program/Be The Match in Minnesota.

For this kind of position three years is a relatively short tenure so CIRM will need to scramble a bit to keep continuity and momentum as it searches for and ultimately puts in place a new leader. It’s a critical time for CIRM as…

A TGIF weekend reading list of new stem cell pubs & headlines

In case you have some free time for reading this week, here’s a list containing an assortment of interesting research articles and stem cell headlines. I’ve thrown some oddballs in there too including one article from May 1983, when I was just finishing up junior high. No, I didn’t write it. And no the headline for this current blog post is not referring to stem cell-themed pubs where you can go…