The Amazing Path of CIRM in its first 5 years

In it’s first five years in existence, CIRM has awarded almost $1.2 billion for stem cell research in the state of California in the form of just over 400 grants. To give you some perspective on that amount of research funding, let’s compare this CIRM funding to NIH funding for stem cell research across the …

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The Republican “Sledge to America”

Part of the Republican’s so-called “Pledge to America” was to cut $100 billion from the federal budget. Even though fiscal year 2011 is already almost half over, Republicans driven by Tea Party Mad Hatters have proposed to cut $100 billion from the budget for this year, increasing their proposed cuts of many programs including deeper …

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Great news: Initial GOP list of proposed cuts mostly spares NIH!

Everyone has been understandably stressed about how the ongoing federal legislative process might effect funding for research including stem cell research. Particularly worrisome was the proposal from the new Republican-controlled House of Representatives to cut $100 billion from the budget. Today brought news (reported at one of my favorite blogs, The Great Beyond) that in …

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Stem cell biotech updates: Geron, ACT, Neuralstem, Pfizer

What’s going on these days with biotech companies working on stem cell-based products? Geron’s and Advanced Cell Technology (ACT)’s FDA-approved trials presumably continue. As expected, no news yet. It’s too soon. Two important questions regarding both these companies are (1) did they apply for CIRM funding and (2) if so, how did the review process …

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The Inside Scoop on iPS cells early in 2011

It’s been more than 4 years since Shinya Yamanaka published the remarkable finding that his lab could transform or “reprogram” regular cells called fibroblasts into a very unique state that was quite similar to that of embryonic stem cells (ESC).  Yamanaka called these new cells “iPS cells” for induced pluripotent stem cells. Since that time, …

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Trends in Stem Cell Research Funding: where do we go from here?

My post yesterday on the problems with the current system of stem cell funding generated a lot of interest from readers– more than a dozen left comments. Many of the comments were insightful even if readers disagreed on certain points. David Jensen also posted on an interesting piece on this issue in response to our …

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Stem cell monopoly: do not pass go, do not collect $200,000

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Great ideas are the foundation of science, but funding makes great ideas become realities and a monopoly on funding hurts science. UPDATE: NIH data backs up our conclusions: overfunding wastes precious resources–give the money to smaller labs. Arguably the key driver of the exciting progress in stem cell research is funding. With the stakes so …

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Science is a national security issue

Reportedly,  House Republicans are proposing a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the rest of FY2011 at 2008 funding levels.  To achieve such an end, the Republicans would have to invoke serious cuts through the federal budget. Not only would such cuts likely damage the U.S. economy, but also they would have major other negative consequences. …

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