December 01, 2021 -- 

A UC group led by UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland with UCLA and UC Berkeley has received $17 million in grants from CIRM and the NIH Cure Sickle Cell Initiative to launch a clinical trial that aims to cure sickle cell disease. The trial, which plans to enroll its first patient in Spring 2022, will use CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology on patients’ own blood stem cells to correct the mutated gene that causes the disorder. 

September 23, 2021 -- 

The UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center has been awarded $5 million by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to train young scientists and physicians to become leaders in the stem cell and regenerative medicine field. The five-year grant will enable the center to expand its Stem Cell Training Program—established in 2006. In total, 156 researchers have graduated from the program, many of whom now hold positions in industry, academia and medicine. 

July 07, 2021 -- 

Dr. Thomas Rando, a renowned neurologist and stem cell biologist, has been named director of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center. As director, Rando will seek to build on the center’s strengths and promote a culture of scientific excellence, academic integrity and interdisciplinary collaboration. He will also work to bring about new partnerships with the larger scientific community to address the most urgent challenges of medicine.  

May 11, 2021 -- 

An experimental form of gene therapy developed by a team of researchers from UCLA and Great Ormond Street Hospital in London has successfully treated 48 of 50 children born with a rare and deadly inherited disorder that leaves them without an immune system. “All the patients are alive and well, and in more than 95% of them, the therapy appears to have corrected their underlying immune system problems," said Dr. Donald Kohn, director of the study.

March 24, 2021 -- 

A collaboration among scientists from UCLA and other universities in California, Delaware and Germany, as well as a German pharmaceutical company, has singled out a compound that shows promise for treating SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In a series of experiments using different types of cells in lab dishes, the researchers found that berzosertib was effective in blocking the coronavirus’s ability to replicate and did not cause significant harm to cells.

November 03, 2020 -- 

Proposition 14 authorized $5.5 billion in general obligation bonds for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which aims to accelerate stem cell treatments to patients with unmet medical needs.

October 22, 2020 -- 

In 2004, California voters approved Proposition 71, which established the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and authorized the issuance of $3 billion in state general obligation bonds to provide funding for stem cell research in California. CIRM’s mission is to accelerate stem cell treatments to patients with unmet medical needs. Between April 2006 and September 2020, the agency awarded UCLA researchers 120 grants totaling more than $307 million. 

August 20, 2020 -- 

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, researchers are rising to the occasion by channeling their specialized expertise to seek new and creative ways to reduce the spread of the virus and save lives. At UCLA, more than 230 research projects, including several being led by members of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center, are contributing to that mission.

April 24, 2020 -- 

Three researchers at the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center have received awards to pursue treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Drs. Gay Crooks and Christopher Seet's award will support their study of how T cells respond to SARS-CoV-2 to inform the development of vaccines and therapies. Dr. Gomperts’ award will support her use of a human stem cell-derived lung organoid model to identify new treatments. 

January 27, 2020 -- 

UCLA researchers led by Dr. Donald Kohn are part of an international team that reported the use of a stem cell gene therapy to treat nine people with the rare, inherited blood disease known as X-linked chronic granulomatous disease, or X-CGD. Six of those patients are now in remission and have stopped other treatments. Before now, people with X-CGD – which causes recurrent infections and a shortened lifespan – relied on bone marrow donations for a chance at remission.

June 26, 2019 -- 

The gift to UCLA will propel cutting-edge research toward clinical application. Over the past 12 years, the center has achieved critical successes in stem cell gene therapy, stem cell immunotherapy, cell replacement strategies and drug discovery. 

April 09, 2019 -- 

A phase 1 clinical trial to test a novel cancer treatment for advanced-stage lung cancer opens for recruitment. The goal of the trial is to use a combined approach to activate a targeted and precise immune response against lung cancer.

January 17, 2019 -- 

A study by UCLA researchers is the first to demonstrate a technique for coaxing pluripotent stem cells into becoming mature T cells capable of killing tumor cells.

June 28, 2018 -- 

Stem cell gene therapy cures baby with life-threatening immune disorder.

May 24, 2018 -- 

The goal of the trial is to activate a targeted and precise immune response against lung cancer.

April 19, 2018 -- 

With a focus on the delivery of stem cell therapeutics to patients, the symposium highlighted advancements and accomplishments of the ASCC network and shared developments and applications in the field of stem cell therapeutics.

June 01, 2017 -- 

Findings could lead to treatment for osteoporosis and other forms of bone damage or loss.

April 20, 2017 -- 

Findings could help scientists replicate or control the way axons grow more effectively in patients whose nerves have been damaged.

February 09, 2017 -- 

The grant will fund innovative pilot stem cell research projects at UCLA, UCSF and USC.

July 21, 2016 -- 

Stem cell gene therapy approach developed at UCLA holds promise for 60 percent of patients with the deadly disease.

June 15, 2016 -- 

Michael Grunstein, professor of biological chemistry and UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center member, has been awarded the 2016 Gruber Prize in Genetics. He will share the prize with David Allis of The Rockefeller University. 

June 10, 2016 -- 

Dr. Owen Witte, renowned scientist and esteemed member of UCLA’s faculty, has been appointed a University Professor by the University of California Board of Regents. This appointment is reserved for scholars of the highest international distinction, who are respected as teachers of exceptional ability and whose contributions elevate the entire UC system. Witte joins the ranks of just 40 UC faculty, including several Nobel laureates, who have received this honor since 1960.

May 20, 2016 -- 

UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center scientists received five awards through CIRM's Discovery Inception program. This program provides seed funding to support the exploration of transformational ideas that hold the potential to greatly impact the field of human stem cell research.

August 30, 2015 -- 

UCLA stem cell scientist and anti-bullying advocate featured on ESPN

August 05, 2015 -- 

Combination therapy targeting cancer stem cells may be more effective against the most common ovarian cancer.

July 23, 2015 -- 

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine voted unanimously to award UCLA with $7.4 million to lead a phase I/II clinical trial for X-linked chronic granulomatous disease, an immunodeficiency disorder commonly referred to as X-linked CGD. The trial, which will use stem cell gene therapy to correct the genetic defect associated with the disorder, is led by renowned stem cell researcher and UCLA Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research member, Dr. Donald Kohn.

April 07, 2015 -- 

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) announced today that Dr. Owen Witte, the founding director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA, will receive the prestigious G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award. Witte is being recognized for his many contributions to the understanding of human leukemias, immune disorders and the stem cells involved in the formation of epithelial cancers...

March 02, 2015 -- 

Dr. Donald Kohn and colleagues show that a novel stem cell gene therapy method could one day provide a one-time, lasting treatment for sickle cell disease. The stem cell research published today in the journal Blood, outlines a method that corrects the mutated gene that causes sickle cell disease and shows, for the first time, the gene correction method leads to the production of normal red blood cells that do not sickle.

May 08, 2014 -- 

The Broad Foundation's $2 million gift to the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center (BSCRC) adds to the 2007 gift of $20 million for which the Center is named. The 2007 gift has supported faculty and research and launched the Innovation Award program, which furthers cutting-edge research at the Center by giving UCLA stem cell scientists "seed funding" for their research projects.

April 14, 2014 -- 

Dr. Owen Witte, director of UCLA’s Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research is a 2014 inductee into the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy. The Academy was created to recognize and honor distinguished scientists whose important research has significantly advanced the fight against cancer.

January 29, 2014 -- 

Recipients of the four Basic Biology V awards from the state stem cell agency, CIRM, included Dr. Lili Yang, Dr. Denis Evseenko, Dr. Thomas Otis and Dr. Ben Novitch, and Dr. Samantha Butler.

August 28, 2013 -- 

Four prominent UCLA stem cell researchers have received Early Translational research awards totaling approximately $13 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) the state stem cell agency. The UCLA researchers received four of the 12 total awards; no other applicant institution received more than one award.

March 28, 2013 -- 

Dr. Brigitte Gomperts, a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research and associate professor of pediatric hematology/oncology, received a Tissue Collection for Disease Modeling grant of over $900,000 from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

February 20, 2013 -- 

Five outstanding young professors from UCLA are among 126 scientists and scholars to receive Sloan Research Fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Two of the five UCLA recipients, Drs. Jason Ernst and Yi Xing, are members of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research Center.

July 26, 2012 -- 

A team of scientists led by Dr. Antoni Ribas, a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and a professor of medicine, were awarded a $20 million grant today to take leading-edge stem cell science from the laboratory and translate it into a new treatment for metastatic melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer.

March 01, 2012 --  Researchers at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute and colleagues who successfully transplanted specialized retinal cells derived from human embryonic stem cells into the eyes of two legally blind patients report that the transplants appear safe and that both patients have experienced modest improvement in their vision. The patients are part of two separate clinical trials, each of which will eventually include 12 patients. The trials will aim to determine the safety of this particular use of stem cell therapy, as well as the patients' ability to tolerate the treatment. UCLA Newsroom Full Story
More Information on the Clinical Trial at UCLA
Photo: UCLA's Dr. Steven Schwartz performs stem cell transplant. (Source: UCLA Newsroom)

February 10, 2012 -- 

The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA received a $1 million gift today for its annual stem cell symposium that draws top scientists from around the world. The Bloomfield Family Foundation, headed by Margaret “Peggy” Bloomfield of Pacific Palisades, made the gift. Bloomfield is a long-time supporter of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center.

September 21, 2011 -- 

Two BSCRC scientists have received prestigious awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recognizing their leading-edge, innovative research. Researchers Utpal Banerjee, the Irving and Jean Stone Professor and chairman of the Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology Department and Heather Christofk, an assistant professor of molecular and medical pharmacology, received the NIH Pioneer Award and New Innovator Award, respectively.

May 03, 2011 -- 

Six BSCRC researchers, Drs. Gay Crooks, Shuo Lin, William Lowry, W. Robb MacLellan, Kathrin Plath, and Yi Sun were awarded more than $8 million in grants from the state stem cell agency on May 3 to investigate basic mechanisms underlying stem cell biology and differentiation. The studies supported by these awards will form the foundation for future translational and clinical advances.

January 01, 2011 -- 

Three BSCRC researchers, Dr. Richard Gatti, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, Dr. Thomas Carmichael, an associate professor of neurology, and Dr. Martin Martin a professor of pediatrics and gastroenterology, were awarded more than $5.3 million in state grants to develop innovative tools and technologies that will help overcome the technical hurdles in advancing basic, translational and clinical stem cell research.

October 21, 2010 -- 

The state stem cell agency today awarded four grants totaling $12 million to researchers with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA to translate basic science into new and more effective therapies to regenerate bone and treat deadly brain cancers, spinal cord injuries and cornea disorders that result in blindness.

May 16, 2010 -- 

Human embryonic stem cell lines UCLA 1, 2, and 3, derived by Amander Clark and Rachel Kim ,are available for use in federally funded research projects, increasing the diversity of cell lines available for study. 

photo credit: Human Embryonic Stem Cells PLoS Biology via Wikimedia Commons

March 09, 2009 -- 

President Obama signs an executive order to lift the restriction imposed by President Bush wherein funding is prohibited for human embryonic stem cell research on cell lines created after August 9, 2001.

February 11, 2008 -- 

Led by Kathrin Plath and William Lowry researchers use genetic alteration to turn back the clock on human skin cells and create cells that are nearly identical to human embryonic stem cells, which have the ability to become every cell type found in the human body. Previously, only two teams of scientists from Kyoto University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison had reported the creation of iPS cells from human cells.

June 06, 2007 -- 

Researchers at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at UCLA were able to take normal tissue cells and reprogram them into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells, the cells that are able to give rise to every cell type found in the body. The implications for disease treatment could be staggering. Reprogramming adult stem cells into embryonic stem cells could generate a potentially limitless source of immune-compatible cells...

June 05, 2007 -- 

The multi-user laboratory space equipped with four tissue culture areas makes possible human embryonic stem cell research that is either not allowed due to current federal funding restrictions or not technically feasible in individual research laboratories.