President Stan called the meeting to order promptly at 12:15 at ye olde Hilton San Francisco Bayfront.  Mynor and the other staff were there to greet us.    Remember all the Oscar shows, klieg lights and red carpets?  Little Big Game rallies?  Lots of chicken and broccolini.   Good times! Working the front table was Stephanie Lichaa showing Joe Galligan how its done.

 
 

Pledge and Invocation

All stood as Dr. Paul Nieberding led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.   Bill Tiedeman led us in the invocation inspired by one of the major addresses of Michelle Obana, the gist of which was “everyone matters.”  Most assuredly!
 
 
 
 
 
Visiting Rotarians & Guests

Jerry Kuehn introduced guest and speaker for the day Todd Dubnicoff.  Mary Murphy introduced her guest, son Robert Doyle.

Visiting was John Manning of the San Francisco 2 Club.

Announcements
We need golfers!  Please make your golfer friends and colleagues aware of this excellent event which will be followed by our Annual Barbecue, all on October 3, at the Peninsula Golf and Country Club.
Being the high-tech group that we are, jump on burlingamerotary.org and sign up for the event and dinner, the event, the dinner – all online.  Easy peasy.
Jim Shypertt flashed a shirt reminding  of the Spirit Run this weekend. 
Paul Nieberding has a couple of Stanford Football tickets available, down low with parking.  Cost is plus or minus $100.00. 

President Stan received a cheeky missive via electronic transmission from the erudite Professor Mike Kimball. Something about being mawkish and self-referential. Stan got back at the Professor, identifying him as singularly loquacious.

 

A spirited and profitable-to-the-club trivia game was conducted by President Stan.   Our table lost $5.00 each.   Who remembers typing class anyway???Wasn’t that early the last century?
Feliz Cumpleaños, August 29 to Francesca Boscacci!!!  Happy Birthday to Sheryl Young on September 3.
 

 

 

Speaker - Todd Dubnicoff, PhD

Our speaker for the day was Todd Dubnicoff, PhD, Science Writer and Multimedia Editor, affiliated with CIRM, www.cirm.ca.gov.  Todd lives in Pacifica with his wife and two sons.   Todd holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from UCLA with post-docs in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from U.C. San Diego.
There are miracles being performed out there.  While there are presently no treatments for Lou Gehrig’s Disease or Alzheimers, there are fabulous successes in curing previously incurable diseases.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was created in 2004 via Proposition 71 which authorized the sale of State bonds to finance the acceleration of research in stem cell treatment, thereby funding the curing of incurable diseases.

More about Stem Cells...

Todd showed us a video of the adorable Evangelina who was born with no immune system.  She was very much like the title character in the John Travolta movie “Bubble Boy.”   A small cold could end her tiny life.  Evangelina was cured through stem cell treatment and her mom, Alicia, is beyond thrilled and thankful.  These researchers are miracle workers delivering precious gifts.Sickle Cell Anemia is receiving great attention.  It is possible to reverse the debilitating effects of stroke.  If you’re a stem cell, you can be anything you want to be when you grow up. You can grow into a heart, a bone, a brain cell, a skin cell.   Properties of a stem cell include both self-renewal and differentiation. There is magic afoot to apply stem cell research treatment to Type 1 diabetes. Maintaining life with Type 1 diabetes means being vigilant all day, every day, and administering painful injections as needed.  Relief may be on the way. Stem cells can be retrieved and isolated; one kind in one dish, another kind in another dish. Then, the scientists can compare, contrast, modify. The FDA has not approved one clinical trial in stem cells.  The President of CIRM has met with the FDA to encourage support.  In the meantime, the State of California is independently funding research and has authorized the expenditure of $3 billion dollars for this work.  California is now the leader in stem-cell research! Can dead heart tissue be brought back to life?  Eduardo Marban of Cedars Sinai is working on heart issues, supported by National Institutes of Health funding. Some sites of interest: www.cirm.ca.gov   www.cirm.ca.gov/funding   blog.cirm.ca.gov
Facebook:  California Institute for Regenerative Medicine  Twitter:  @CIRMNews    Thanks so much Todd for all you do!!!!
 
 
             SEE YOU ALL SEPTEMBER 12 at HILTON SAN FRANCISCO  BAYFRONT
                       HAPPY LABOR DAY – WE’RE DARK!