December 2013 Newsletter
CIRM December Newsletter
- CIRM Helps Stanford Recruit World Renowned Stem Cell Expert
- New Webinar: Cell Therapies for Parkinson’s Disease from Discovery to Clinic
- Video Nuevo en Español: Latina High School Student Wants to be a Role Model for Her Community
- CIRM Joins Bay Area Science Festival at AT&T Park
- CIRM President Alan Trounson's Stem Cell Research Picks
- 1700 and Counting: The Latest Publications on CIRM-funded Research
- Upcoming CIRM Events
- CIRM Funding Opportunities
CIRM Helps Stanford Recruit World Renowned Stem Cell Expert
With the help of a $6.15 million CIRM Research Leadership Award, Stanford University announced in November the successful recruitment of Hiromitsu Nakauchi, MD, PhD, a world leading scientist in the stem cell biology field. Nakauchi will join the faculty of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. He currently is a director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Tokyo (IMSUT). His research has focused on clarifying the mechanism of stem cell self-renewal. The Research Leadership Awards were created to help California universities and research institutions recruit the very best stem cell scientists in the world. These awards have so far helped California institutions recruit five other senior scientists to the state.
- Read our press release and blog about Dr. Nakauchi's recruitment
New Webinar: Cell Therapies for Parkinson’s Disease from Discovery to Clinic
On November 14th, CIRM and the Regenerative Medicine Consortium (RMC) hosted a webinar, "Cell Therapies for Parkinson’s Disease (PD) from Discovery to Clinic". A recording of the webinar and the speakers' presentation slides are now availabe on our website. The webinar includes presentations by the FDA and leading experts who spoke about considerations for first-in-human clinical trials of cell therapies for PD, lessons learned from human fetal transplants and gene therapy, and the current state of preclinical research with human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cell therapies.
Video Nuevo en Español: Latina High School Student Wants to be a Role Model for Her Community
In November, CIRM posted its first ever Spanish language video which features Jazmin Penado, a 2014 senior at Balboa High School in San Francisco. Ms Penado spent this past summer as a CIRM Creativity Award intern in the lab of Barbara Panning at UCSF's Mission Bay Campus. Over the course of the three-year Creativity Awards program, CIRM will have supported 220 high school students in stem cell research internships. For more information, visit our website:
- Watch the video
- Read our blog about the video (Spanish and English text)
- Watch videos, see photos, and read blogs from other 2013 Creativity Award interns
CIRM Joins Bay Area Science Festival at AT&T Park
On November 2nd, CIRM along with 150 other organizations and over 30,000 visitors took over AT&T Park to celebrate Discovery Days, the concluding event of the two-week Bay Area Science Festival which celebrates and promotes science. Kids and parents were entertained by a non-stop program of science related interactive exhibits. At the CIRM booth, members of the Berkeley Student Society for Stem Cell Research were on hand to walk kids through a Play-Doh activity which is part of CIRM's stem cell curriculum. While the kids played, Don Gibbons, CIRM's senior science and education communications officer, spoke to onlooking parents about CIRM's role in supporting stem cell research and accelerating the path to therapies.
CIRM President Alan Trounson's November Stem Cell Research Picks
Each month CIRM President Alan Trounson reports on advances in stem cell science by highlighting recently published papers from CIRM grantees and other leading research teams around the world.
1700 and Counting: The Latest Publications on CIRM-funded Research
With over 1700 published discoveries, CIRM grantees are making steady progress on understanding the molecular basis of stem cell biology and moving stem cell-based therapies toward clinical trials. Here is a partial list of science journals that published CIRM-funded research in September/October along with press releases from the grantees' home institutions and entries from the CIRM Stem Cell Research Blog:
November 7th - Cell Stem Cell
- USC Release: Ostrow Study Identifies Mechanism that Makes Ordinary Stem Cells Create Tumors
- CIRM Blog: Stem cells in the jaw at the heart of debilitating bony growths
November 14th - Cell Stem Cell
- Gladstone Institutes Release: Breaking through Barriers; Building Better Cells
- CIRM Blog: Gladstone Institutes scientists overcome a barrier in generating iPS cells
November 17th - Nature Cell Biology
- Salk Institute Release: Salk scientists for the first time generate "mini-kidney" structures from human stem cells
- CIRM Blog: CIRM grantees at Salk create kidney buds from human stem cells
Upcoming CIRM Events
December 11th, noon-12:30pm: Spotlight on Amyloidosis featuring presentations by Robert Vescio, M.D., Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Michael York, actor and patient advocate for amyloidosis. Visit our website for more details.
December 11th-12th: The CIRM governing board will hold its 7th and final meeting of 2013 in Los Angeles. The agenda and details will be posted to the meetings page 10 days before the event.
December 3rd-6th: The World Stem Cell Summit holds its annual conference this year in San Diego, CA. Several CIRM staff and grantees will be among the list of scheduled speakers. Planned by and for the stem cell and regenerative medicine community, the Summit brings global stakeholders together to help accelerate the discovery and development of lifesaving cures and therapies. For more information visit the World Stem Cell Summit website.
CIRM Funding Opportunities
Disease Team Therapy Development IV - RFA posting scheduled for March 2014
Basic Biology VI - RFA posting scheduled for May 2014
RFA 13-07: CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinics Network: Coordinating and Information Management Center - Letters of Intent (LOIs) must be received by CIRM no later than 5:00 pm (PST) on December 16, 2013 via the CIRM Grants Management Portal. CIRM conducted a webinar for prospective applicants on Tuesday, November 5, 2013 to address questions about both RFA 13-06 and 13-07 and the application process. A recording of the webinar, presentation slides, and the Q&A transcript are now available on the RFA 13-07 page.
RFA 13-06: CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinics Network: Alpha Stem Cell Clinics - Letters of Intent (LOIs) must be received by CIRM no later than 5:00 pm (PST) on December 16, 2013 via the CIRM Grants Management Portal. CIRM conducted a webinar for prospective applicants on Tuesday, November 5, 2013 to address questions about both RFA 13-06 and 13-07 and the application process. A recording of the webinar, presentation slides, and the Q&A transcript are now available on the RFA 13-06 page.
RFA 13-05: CIRM Tools and Technologies III Awards - Deadline for submission of Preliminary applications (PreApps) is 5:00 pm (PST) on January 7, 2014.
RFA 13-04: External Innovation Pilot Program - Prior to submitting an application, a PI must submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) describing the proposed project. CIRM will evaluate the LOI -- refer to Section VIII.A. of the RFA for evaluation criteria. This RFA is targeted at only the most exceptional proposals: CIRM expects to support only one or two such projects each year.
RFA 13-03: CIRM Strategic Partnership III Awards - CIRM intends to offer repeat calls under this initiative every 6-9 months. The focus, scope and objective may differ with each solicitation. CIRM conducted a webinar for prospective applicants on August 7, 2013 to address questions about the RFA and application process. Click here to watch webinar and view Q & A.
RFA 09-04: CIRM Research Leadership Awards - Applications due on January 14, 2014.
PA 12-08: CIRM Patent Assistance Fund Awards - Application opportunities on a monthly basis until June 30, 2014
Eligibility: Only Technology Transfer Officials at current CIRM Grantee institutions are eligible to apply for funds under this program.
PA 08-06: CIRM Conference Grants - Applications for conference grants will be accepted, reviewed and approved periodically
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