Chancellor Katehi gave a short, ~2 min. speech, at today’s UC Davis rally. Regrettably, I wasn’t there, but there is already video of it up on Youtube. You can watch it here. The gist of the speech is that she’s sorry and that she wants to connect more with students. The students in the crowd …
Video of Katehi’s speech today at UC Davis rally: “I’m sorry” Read More »
I usually stick to science on this blog, but Friday’s events on my campus compel me to take a moment to discuss what happened. I am proud of our school and to be a member of the UC Davis faculty. I’m proud of our students too. I am shocked and disappointed at the events that …
Unprovoked UC Davis Police Attack Peaceful Student Protestors: some perspectives Read More »
Today, an authoritative article was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that included some of the most comprehensive polling of attitudes in the U.S. and around the world on embryonic stem cell (ESC) research. Their findings indicate very widespread and deep support for ESC research around the globe including in the U.S. and …
There’s a lot of people and groups out there with different agendas related to health and health care as well as research. Of course, people consider those who disagree with them the “bad guys”. One of the good guys out there in my opinion is Research AMERICA. I met Max Bronstein, one of the leaders …
Many of us have been discouraged by Geron’s decision to end their stem cell program, which included products based on human embryonic stem (ES) cells, but let’s keep some perspective on this and not give up hope. The opponents of hope want us to give up. They who have waged their own self-proclaimed war on …
The grapevine is afire with the Geron news and there are many interpretations out there of what it means and why it happened. Based on several accounts from folks who remain anonymous, here is the most probable prediction of what happened to lead us to yesterday’s announcement. Geron has been worried for a long time …
The Scarlett letter? What the experts really think about Geron Read More »
Yesterday Geron announced it would be immediately stopping its stem cell research program. What does this mean? While this program has (or should I say “had”) a number of elements, at its heart was of course its hESC-based OPC drug (GRNOPC1) for spinal cord injury, which was in an FDA-approved Phase I Clinical Trial that …
The day after Geron’s news: a realistic outlook for the stem cell field Read More »
Geron abruptly announced today that it will no longer pursue its spinal cord injury trial using oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) derived from hESC. Several sources indicate that Geron is hoping to find a buyer of its drug for this trial, GRNOPC1 and the hope is that the trial could be rescued in a sense. Why …
Rumors flying on Geron, ACT, CIRM and the stem cell field Read More »
Reportedly, Geron has decided to only focus on cancer research and for financial reasons has shut down its hESC trial for spinal cord injury. This is a very sad day for stem cell science. (Update in 2020: the firm still exists, but is working in different areas. The stock has struggled.) No more spinal cord …
Bad news as Geron to quit hESC SCI trial for financial reasons Read More »
I recently did a post telling you about one of my favorite molecules, Myc, which is important not only in cancer but also in most, if not all stem cells including iPS cells. There’s a lot more to Myc and how it does it’s tricks in embryonic stem cells and iPS cells. It cannot do …