California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

07/27/2023

Among the awards is a $12.4 million grant to support a Phase 2b clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a stem cell-based retinal implant in patients with geographic atrophy, a late-stage form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a common condition that can lead to vision loss in older adults.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the world’s largest institution dedicated to regenerative medicine, today awarded $50.1 million to fund clinical-stage research projects a…

06/28/2023

Thanks to $17 million in early funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and the unwavering dedication of researchers like Dr. Stephanie Cherqui at UC San Diego, a gene therapy to address cystinosis is making its way through the field.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/3NtfURb

05/16/2023

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is a proud partner of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health through the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium (AMP BGTC).

We're demonstrating our commitment by funding gene therapy research for Congenital Hereditary Endothelial Dystrophy (CHED), a corneal condition affecting children.

04/27/2023

Five-year-old Seersha Sulack will become only the second child in the US in the past five years to receive a life-saving gene therapy treatment for her thanks to a partnership between California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a group of persistent parents at SCID, Angels for Life Foundation and researchers at the Broad Stem Cell Research Center at UCLA.

Later this spring, a little girl in California who essentially has no immune system will receive a lifesaving treatment for "bubble boy disease" thanks to the persistence of a dogged group of parents, a pediatrician, a veteran newsman and a few episodes of "Grey's Anatomy."

04/25/2023

"It is critical that the stakeholders, Parkinson's Disease patients and California citizens understand the impact that new treatments and even a cure could have."

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is joining the campaign to —take 6 minutes to raise Parkinson’s awareness and highlight…

04/19/2023

To date, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has invested more than $60 million in helping regenerative medicine research for Parkinson's progress from a discovery level through clinical trials.

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is joining the campaign to —take 6 minutes to raise Parkinson’s awareness and highlight…

04/10/2023

“This is a common injury, and as our population ages, there’s a pressing need to find new solutions," said Dr. Darryl D’Lima, director of orthopedic research at Scripps Research and the initiative’s lead investigator.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded a $2.7 million research grant to Scripps Health to investigate the use of stem cells to engineer rotator cuff tendons in the la…

03/29/2023

CIRM bids farewell and expresses its deepest gratitude to Sen. Art Torres (ret) and Jonathan Thomas ("JT") for their service on our Board and their dedication to the advancement of stem cell research in California.

03/20/2023

Under a new law, clinical trial sponsors will be required to submit a diversity action plan to the FDA along with other important trial documents.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is proud to join fellow advocates of clinical trial diversity in applauding a new law that will allow the U.S. Food & Drug Administrati…

02/28/2023

February 28th is Rare Disease Day. It’s a day to remind ourselves of the millions of people, and their families, struggling with these diseases.

Here at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, we understand the importance of funding research that impacts not just the most common diseases.

In fact, 50% of all the projects we fund target a rare disease or condition such as: Retinitis pigmentosa, Sickle cell disease, Huntington’s disease, and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Tomorrow, February 28th, is Rare Disease Day. It’s a day to remind ourselves of the millions of people, and their families, struggling with these diseases. These conditions are also called orphan d…

02/23/2023

Recent news of the 53-year-old man in Germany who was declared free of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant shows the importance of continued research.

At the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), we have invested more than $85 million in the search for stem cell and gene therapy treatments for HIV/AIDS, ranging from basic Discovery research to clinical trials.

A recent article in Nature shared the news about a 53-year-old man in Germany who was declared free of HIV after receiving virus-resistant cells. The man—referred to as the “Düsseldorf patient”—wa…

02/22/2023

A man with HIV is now virus-free after receiving a stem cell transplant, making him one of only a handful of people to be considered cured after the treatment.

The 53-year-old known as the "Düsseldorf Patient" also had cancer and received a bone marrow transplant which replaced his cells with a donor's HIV-resistant stem cells.

01/27/2023

Dr. Vito Imbasciani will be the new Chair of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state agency created by voters in 2004 and funded again in 2020 to invest in stem cell and regenerative medicine research and treatments.

Dr. Vito Imbasciani will be the new Chair of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state agency created by voters in 2004 and funded again in 2020 to invest in stem cell an…

01/23/2023

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has awarded a grant to Dr. Natalia Gomez-Ospina and her team at Stanford for a late-stage preclinical program for .

Children with the syndrome lack an enzyme the body needs to digest sugar and experience progressive brain, heart, organ damage. There is no effective treatment and life expectancy for many of these children is only around 10 years.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) awarded $5,444,353 to Dr. Natalia Gomez-Ospina and her team at Stanford University for a late-stage preclinical program targeting Severe Mu…

01/11/2023

When HT was born in a remote part of the Navajo nation, he was quickly diagnosed with a rare and usually fatal condition.

Today, thanks to a therapy developed at UCSF and funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, he’s a healthy four-year-old boy running around in cowboy boots.

Photo credit: UCSF Hataalii Tiisyatonii Begay (HT) is paving the road for newborns with SCID. When HT was born in 2018 in a remote part of the Navajo nation, he was quickly diagnosed with a rare an…

01/11/2023

When HT was born in 2018 in a remote part of the Navajo nation, he was quickly diagnosed with a rare and -usually fatal- condition.

Today, thanks to a therapy developed at UCSF and funded by CIRM, he’s a healthy four-year-old boy running around in cowboy boots.

Photo credit: UCSF Hataalii Tiisyatonii Begay (HT) is paving the road for newborns with SCID. When HT was born in 2018 in a remote part of the Navajo nation, he was quickly diagnosed with a rare an…

12/28/2022

ICYMI

This year was a momentous one for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). You can read some of our achievements in our 2021-2022 annual report. As always, we shared our most ex…

12/22/2022

On behalf of the team at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, we wish you a safe and happy holiday!

Thank you to the people of California and our wonderful community for making 2022 a successful year.

12/20/2022

“If successful, this approach can overcome hurdles to the success of chemotherapy and blood stem cell transplantation for the treatment of advanced blood cancer,” says Dr. Maria T. Millan, President and CEO of CIRM.

Blood stem cell transplantation following high dose chemotherapy is standard of care and potentially curative for aggressive forms of lymphoma. However, this treatment regimen is limited by severe …

12/16/2022

CIRM lost its voice this weekend.

Sunday evening, our beloved Director of Patient Advocacy and frequent face and voice of the Institute, Kevin McCormack, passed away unexpectedly, leaving an unfillable void in our hearts.

CIRM lost its voice this weekend.    Sunday evening, our beloved Director of Patient Advocacy and frequent face and voice of the Institute, Kevin McCormack, passed away unexpectedly,…

12/07/2022

During the CIRM SPARK summer internship, the high school student joined a lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys to study Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and how stem cells can be used to provide treatment.

Earlier this year, CIRM welcomed many energetic and enthusiastic high school students at the 2022 SPARK Program annual conference in Oakland. The SPARK program is one of the California Institute fo…

12/01/2022

El bebé Tobi recibió un tratamiento de células madre, financiado por el CIRM, mientras aún estaba en el útero.

“Cuando lo abrazamos por primera vez dijimos, ‘No puedo creer que hayamos hecho esto. Lo logramos. Lo hicimos sin saber si funcionaría’.”

El bebé, Tobi, que recibió un tratamiento de células madre financiado por el CIRM, mientras aún estaba en el útero, y sus padres Michelle y Jeff. To read this blog in English, click here. Michelle …

11/30/2022

Both patients entered the study with a history of significant monthly seizures that were not controlled by anti-seizure medications.

So far, they have both seen encouraging signs of reduced seizures which suggest that a single dose of NRTX-1001 may have a long-lasting ability to suppress seizures.

Nearly 3.5 million Americans suffer from some form of epilepsy. It can affect people in different ways from stiff muscles or staring spells, to violent shaking and loss of consciousness. …

11/23/2022

🎶 When the working day is done oh nerds just wanna have funds. 🎶

We at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. We get to work with some extraordinary colleagues, we get to know some remarkable patient a…

11/21/2022

Caring Cross announced recently that they have dosed the first patient in the trial testing their anti-HIV duoCAR-T cell therapy.

The goal of this one-time therapy is to act as a long-term control of HIV with patients no longer needing to take anti-HIV medications. If it is successful it would be, in effect, a form of functional HIV cure.

Dr. Steven Deeks. Photo courtesy UCSF I’ve always been impressed by the willingness of individuals to step forward and volunteer for a clinical trial. Even more so when they are the first person ev…

11/18/2022

“We are hopeful that it might one day be possible to inject an antibody at specific sites in the body to regenerate muscle in older people or to counteract functional problems due to disease or surgery.”

A study by Stanford Medicine researchers in older mice may lead to treatments that help seniors regain muscle strength lost to aging. Muscle stem cells—which are activated in response to muscle inj…

11/14/2022

There’s more encouraging news from a CIRM-funded clinical trial for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) with Jasper Therapeutics.

They have announced that they have tested their approach in 16 patients, with encouraging results and no serious adverse events.

Dr. Judy Shizuru: Photo courtesy Jasper Therapeutics Over the years the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has invested a lot in helping children born with severe combined immuno…

11/08/2022

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has been named as a finalist for the Patient Advocacy Award (non-profit category) as part of the Phacilitate Advanced Therapies Awards.

It’s always nice to be told you are doing a good job. It’s even nicer when it’s unexpected. That’s certainly the case when we, the Communications Team at the California Institute for Regenerative M…

11/02/2022

Dr. Dennis Clegg has lots of titles and honors but what makes him most interesting is the progress he is helping drive in finding cures for macular degeneration, one of the leading causes of vision loss in the world.

In this podcast Dennis talks about how a small patch they have developed is showing real promise in restoring vision.

Dennis Clegg, UC Santa Barbara researcher Doctor Dennis Clegg, a researcher and scientist at UC Santa Barbara, is fascinated by the eye. He thinks it’s one of the most beautiful objects in na…

10/27/2022

Dr. Lili Yang is working on developing a stem cell-derived Natural Killer cell that can attack cancer.

She is doing it in a way that she hopes will make the therapy more effective, cheaper and widely available to everyone who needs it.

Lili Yang UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center: Photo courtesy Reed Hutchinson PhotoGraphics When Lili Yang was studying for her PhD she approached her mentor, the Nobel Laureate Dr. David Baltimor…

10/25/2022

Congratulations to Senator Art Torres (Ret.), the Vice Chair of the CIRM Board, who received a Dolores Huerta Lifetime Achievement Award this month!

During the ceremony, Dolores Huerta sent a video greeting from Texas (where she lives) and San Francisco Mayor London Breed presented him with a Certificate of Honor.

Mayor Breed praised Art for supporting immigrant communities, uplifting Latino residents, and for his advocacy and passion to secure critical funding for stem cell research in California.

We are thrilled to have Senator Art Torres (Ret.) serve on our Board and congratulate him for this amazing achievement!

Read more: https://bit.ly/3TUUbDv

10/17/2022

To date, no vaccines or other treatments have been approved for Zika virus.

Zika is caused by a virus that is mainly transmitted by infected female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes but also through sexual in*******se. People infected by Zika virus usually have mild symptoms that n…

10/14/2022

More promising news from the CIRM-funded stem cell clinical trial at UC Davis Health treating spina bifida.

The three babies from the trial that have been born so far will be monitored by the research team until 30 months of age to fully assess the procedure’s safety and effectiveness.

He was diagnosed with spina bifida while still in the womb, but thanks to this procedure he was born happy and healthy.

10/13/2022

CIRM’s goal is that the outcomes of the projects derived from this opportunity will ultimately create new avenues and provide a rigorous foundation for translational and clinical development work.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is pleased to announce a new opportunity within our current funding cycle for Discovery stage programs: the DISC0 …

10/07/2022

The first phase of the clinical trial is funded by a $9 million state grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

Three babies have been born after receiving the world’s first spina bifida treatment combining surgery with stem cells. This was made possible by a landmark clinical trial at UC Davis Health known formally as the “CuRe Trial: Cellular Therapy for In Utero Repair of Myelomeningocele.” 

10/06/2022

CIRM congratulates Carolyn Bertozzi for winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry!

Bertozzi helped jump-start human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research in California and had a hand in early CIRM-funded stem cell research.

Carolyn Bertozzi. Image credit: Andrew Brodhead The 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Carolyn R. Bertozzi of Stanford University, Morten Meldal of the University of Copenhagen, and …