Navigating California's Stem Cell Waters: Afflictions, Patient Info, Lucky Awardees

An introductory look into CIRM's cyberspace info repository

CIRM’s YouTube TV channel contains 749 videos, varying in quality and age. Above is one from last fall that includes two patients involved in clinical trials backed by CIRM.

The website of the Golden State’s $12 billion gene and stem cell research agency is stuffed with loads of information for patients, scientists and policy wonks.

But like any opus, it can be a daunting task to navigate. Plumbing the innards of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is not necessarily for weaklings. But taken one step at a time, it can be done.

Let’s start with patients. CIRM’s patient resources page can be found here. It has answers to questions as “Why does it take so long to create new stem cell therapies?” and “What about stem cell therapies that are available overseas?”

If you have a “favorite” affliction, take a peek here. The information can be “filtered” for diseases or conditions ranging from aging to the Zika virus. It can also be sorted by recipient institutions ranging from AcuraStem, Inc., to Zenobia Therapeutics.

For a list of all the recipient enterprises,