Celltex is an adult stem cell company in the great state of Texas that reportedly has produced adult stem cell products used for the treatment of more than 100 patients with stem cells. We don’t know much about Celltex (e.g. it has no website), but I was hoping to change that in part via a …
Adult stem cell clinics are growing fast across the U.S. and the world.Many questions surround them. How do they get patients? How does the money flow? How does the FDA view them? How do all the different parties interact?In science when we study how various proteins or other molecules interact as a system we sometimes …
Last year one of the biggest events in the stem cell field was biotech Geron punting its embryonic stem cell (ESC) program. Much consternation followed. Some folks opposed to ESCs happily pronounced ESC research dead. Some folks in favor of ESC thought the world was ending a year early. Others tried to look on the …
The stem cell gestalt of Geron Goodbye and the future of ACT Read More »
The International Cellular Medicine Society (ICMS) is viewed somewhat skeptically by the stem cell community, but they are undeniably an important player in the stem cell world. A few weeks ago I interviewed ICMS President, Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez (see interview here), and then I provided recommendations here to the ICMS to improve their organization including a less adversarial …
ICMS posts 483 report of FDA audit: still awaiting news on Celltex Read More »
Yesterday I was kind of harsh on the microbiome researchers whose work has been so widely discussed in the NY Times and elsewhere. I went so far as to call it “fatally flawed” because the researchers picked their research subjects for “normalcy” and went so far as to manipulate the subjects by requiring that 80% …
The pursuit of “normalcy” has seriously led some scientists astray and there is no better example than the recent microbiome studies that have drawn great attention in the media. I found one aspect of their study design profoundly disturbing. First to my core question. Is there even such as thing as a normal person? As …
I have an ongoing poll on people’s impressions of the big annual stem cell meeting, ISSCR 2012. I myself have been wishing I was in Japan for that meeting so I remain surprised at the trending of the poll toward the negative. By far the most common response has been a surprisingly ho-hum “so-so” evaluation …
Wish list from 2012 attendees for ISSCR 2013: some crankiness Read More »
Want to win $50 and become a published author? Enter the Knoepfler Lab Stem Cell Blog Essay Contest. Due in 11 days! The challenge? Write a no more than 500 word,convincing, non-fiction essay on stem cells thinking entirely outside the box. Otherwise, the angle you take is totally up to you. Surprise me. Make me …
Still 11 days left to enter stem cell essay contest, get published, & win $50 Read More »
Why do professors leave one institution and go to another? The reasons why say a lot about academia. This is kind of a taboo topic in science, but very important. Once upon a time…. Two decades ago when I was a technician in the Pathology Department at UCSD School of Medicine and then still when …
Why professors leave: elephant in the lab series Read More »
How often do our preconceived notions make us miss new discoveries as scientists? I fear this happens very often. What got me thinking about closed and open minds was of course inspired by my dog, Elvis. I was walking her very early one morning last week as I often do out here in Davis, CA …
Mystery sculpture: how the brain eats up new things Read More »