Yesterday, UC Davis Professor, Simon Chan, passed away. You can read more about Simon and the touching comments of many friends and colleagues of his here. When I heard the news, I felt like my heart stopped and I couldn’t breathe for a moment. How was this possible? It seems unreal. Ever since that moment …
Last year then NY Yankees pitcher, Bartolo Colon, received a dubious stem cell treatment in his home Dominican Republic. Colon seemed to bounce back from an injury after the stem cell treatment and some attributed this to his stem cell treatment. Other famous athletes including other pitchers and NFL players have since then also gotten similar …
The culture warriors of the Right to Life movement and some of the more radical elements in the Tea Party have waged war on embryonic stem cell (ESC) research and researchers. Tagging along like some reluctant bride has been the leadership of the Republican Party. Folks like Mitt Romney and his partner, Paul Ryan, now …
Has the culture war on stem cells turned into a cold war? Read More »
Why are some scientists so inept socially and end up in struggles interacting with other people? Kindergarten! Yes, my theory is that many of the key events are traceable to kindergarten and more specifically to what future scientists failed to learn then even if they technically passed the class and moved on to first grade. …
The Irish Stem Cell Foundation is one of the good guys in the stem cell universe. It works to promote stem cell research and education in an at times hostile environment with fired up opponents who don’t hesitate to fire it up against stem cell advocates. It is therefore exciting that the Foundation has launched …
Irish Stem Cell Foundation launches new website! Read More »
Autism affects millions of children in the U.S. alone; could stem cells for autism help? It is a perplexing spectrum of disorders with “autism” being an umbrella term for a host of related neurological illnesses. The negative impact of autism on our society transcends economics, but has been estimated at 10s of billions of dollars. …
The Texas stem cell clinic, Celltex, is lately becoming a model of transparency in the biotech industry. They are willing to answer many (if not all) questions I’ve been asking them. Celltex is involved in stem cell isolation and multiplication, and banking (see post here on the pros and cons of stem cell banking) as …
Interesting new insights into Celltex’s business model Read More »
Is it worth it to do stem cell banking? When I was a kid I remember hearing about people having themselves frozen or even just their heads frozen shortly after death. The idea was to cheat mortality by preserving oneself or critical parts of oneself until some future date when scientists and doctors would have …
Cryogenics to stem cell banking: time for deposit? Read More »
UPDATED I think all politicians, before taking office, and every 5 years after taking office, should be required to take a basic biology class. Why? A clear understanding of biological processes is becoming more and more important in politics these days. At the same time we are seeing an increasing number of politicians making critical …
The case for required Bio 101 courses for politicians: Rep. Todd Akin Read More »
I’ve been working for a couple years on SCOPE, the Stem Cell Outreach Program for Education. Our motto is “stem cells not lost in translation!” This program aims to provide concise and clear educational materials about stem cells to as many readers across the world in their native languages as possible. To date, we have …