Dennis Clegg has lots of titles and honors but what makes him most interesting is the progress he is helping drive in finding cures for macular degeneration, one of the leading causes of vision loss in the world. In this podcast Dennis talks about how a small patch they have developed is showing real promise in restoring vision.

Stanford University professor Dr. Jill Helms wears many hats. She's a gifted stem cell researcher, she's part of a company developing therapies for aging, she's a teacher, mentor, terrific public speaker, a fashionista extraordinaire and someone who has ridden her horse to work.

She's also a fascinating guest, as I found out when I sat down to chat with her for the latest episode of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's podcast, Talking 'Bout (re) Generation.

Enjoy

In 2011 Sean Entin suffered a devastating, almost fatal stroke. He was put in a coma and when he woke he couldn't talk, couldn't count, couldn't remember much of his life. Doctors told him he would never walk again. But they didn't know Sean. He not only turned life around for himself, now he's helping other people who have had a stroke find their path to recovery.

Lou Gehrig's disease, or ALS, is a nasty degenerative condition that destroys the brain cells controlling movement. The average life expectancy for someone diagnosed with ALS is just two to five years. It has a devastating impact on the people diagnosed and their families. On the latest episode of Talking 'Bout (re)Generation we talk to two women who have suffered a loss in this fight, but who are using their experience with ALS to help others battling the disease.

Dr. Jan Nolta heads several different stem cell research institutes at the University of California at Davis, oversees multi-million dollar research budgets, sits on numerous boards, has 35 aquariums in her home and has a truly eclectic taste in music. We talk about all of that and more in this latest episode of Talking 'Bout (re)Generation.

Dr. Alysson Muotri is one of the most creative minds in science today. That's appropriate because the focus of his research is the brain. He's working to uncover how it works, and along the way try and find ways to help children with autism. He's also messing around with Neanderthal brains and sending mini-brains into orbit. This is a conversation you definitely don't want to miss.

When it comes to scientific research much of the media and public attention is focused on scientists who are working on clinical trials, where therapies are tested in people. But basic or discovery research, while less glamorous, is just as important. Without that basic work we would never develop ideas and approaches that ultimately lead to clinical trials. In this episode we talk to three researchers working on early stage science, and show how what they have done might just have led to a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

When the COVID pandemic hit and the 2020 election became one of the most contentious in living history it suddenly made trying to get a proposition on the ballot in California a lot harder. That meant the future of CIRM, California's Stem Cell Agency, was in doubt and with it the future funding for scientific research that could change and even save lives. Happily the team behind Proposition 14 came up with some brilliant ideas to win the day.

In this podcast we talk to two of the key figures behind all this, Melissa King and Maria Bonneville. Melissa helped secure the votes needed to pass Proposition 14, and Maria kept CIRM on track to cope with whatever the outcome of the election was.