Geron Corporation

THE GERON CORPORATION is a biopharmaceutical company located in Menlo Park, California. Geron was founded in 1990 by Dr. Michael West with a mission to research cellular mechanisms of aging and to advance the study of telomerase. The name Geron comes from the Greek meaning “old man.”

In 1995 West approached Dr. James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with an offer to provide funding for Thomson's research to isolate stem cells from six—day-old embryos left over from in vitro fertilization. Of the 36 embryos the University of Wisconsin team used, 14 developed to the blastocyst stage, and from these embryos, the inner cell mass was used to establish five human cell lines, two of which were female and three of which were male.

In 1996 West approached Dr. John Gearhart at Johns Hopkins University with an offer to provide funding for Dr. Gearhart's research to isolate primordial germ cells from the gonadal ridge of 8–12-week—old aborted fetuses. Both research teams receiving Geron funding generated pluripotent cells capable of generating all three layers (ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm) of body cells. Both teams were published in scientific journals within days of each other. During this same time frame, Geron established an agreement with Roslin BioMed in Scodand for their cloning technology, with plans for making transplantable cells for individual patients. Michael West left Geron in 1998.

Under the leadership of Dr. Thomas B. Okama, Geron continues with the mission to develop therapeutic products to treat cancer, spinal cord injury, heart failure, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS. To meet this goal, Geron collaborates with researchers around the world to advance embryonic stem cell technology for therapeutic application in treating human disease by improving the culture and growth under conditions capable of commercial manufacture and to develop purification methods for differentiated cells as well as genetic modification enhancement. In addition, Geron remains active in the research on telomerase, with possible clinical applications as a diagnostic marker for cancer screening and for patient treatment and monitoring.