News and Events

The Stem Cellar

• First therapy supported by CIRM approved by the FDA  March 27, 2026
  After 21 years (and a few months), the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has hit a major milestone: the first therapy supported by CIRM has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in patients. In 2004, when California voters created CIRM to fund research with stem cells — cells that can divide to form many different tissues in the body — stem cells […]
• CIRM-funded clinical trial gives siblings a second chance at life March 17, 2026
  written by Holly Alyssa MacCormick Alicia Langenhop was seven months pregnant with her third child when she and her husband, Jon, learned that their two toddlers had a life-threatening immune disease called leukocyte adhesion deficiency-1 (LAD-1). The odds of being born with LAD-1 are rare, literally one-in-a-million, but the disease is genetic, so the Langenhop’s unborn child had a roughly 25 percent chance of having the disease. […]
• Closer to Cures: Stanford researcher Crystal Mackall discusses progress on clinical trials for rare cancers of the brain and spine with no known cure. March 6, 2026
  Written by Holly Alyssa MacCormick In 2023, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) funded a clinical trial led by Stanford researcher Crystal Mackall, MD, to investigate a possible therapy for rare brain and spinal tumors that arise from a specific genetic mutation, known as H3K27M. These cancers are devastating. Each year, about 1,000 people […]