The Board of Directors of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) announced today that they have voted to dissolve the organization. CAMR is effectively at an end. The CAMR Board has decided, as described in an email, to “transfer its mission and its resources to an outstanding colleague organization, the Alliance for Regenerative …
We had the big news last week that for the first time ever, human embryo cloning (aka “therapeutic cloning”) worked to produce apparently normal embryonic stem cells. I posted about it a few times here, here, and here. I have tried my best to be factual, open minded, and realistic about the issues. Frankly, the …
Today’s post is an interview I did with Dr. Van Bokkelen covering 10 questions. Dr. Gil Van Bokkelen is Chairman and CEO of Athersys, Inc., a company that has focused heavily on stem cells and regenerative medicine for more than a decade. For more on Dr. Van Bokkelen’s background see additional bio section at the end of …
One of the great areas of confusion over the human cloning development this week is whether human cloning is legal or illegal. With few exceptions, human cloning in general is legal in the US. Update: in 2020 it still appears that reproductive human cloning is legal in the US. It just hasn’t gotten that much …
Deja you: human cloning generally legal in the US Read More »
Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) has confirmed that one of the patient in a clinical trial that it is running for treatment of macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness worldwide, has shown a striking improvement in vision. The patient reportedly had 20/400 vision prior to treatment and now has 20/40 vision after treatment. ACT uses an …
Striking improvement in vision in one ACT trial participant Read More »
Yesterday’s report of human therapeutic cloning to make embryonic stem (ES) cell lines is a big deal. I support the work and I believe it is very important. People’s reactions to it vary wildly depending on their agendas of course. This post is a no-nonsense overview of the main points. My overall point. This is …
5 human therapeutic cloning talking points dissected Read More »
For the first time ever, scientists have successfully used somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) via the process of therapeutic human cloning to generate normal human embryonic stem cells (hESC). Recall that there are two kinds of human cloning: therapeutic (which is reported in the new paper discussed in this post) and reproductive, which is making …
Human cloning successfully makes embryonic stem cells Read More »
I just closed my blog’s poll on what are the most clinically promising pluripotent stem cells. Why close the poll now less than 12 hours after I opened it instead of leaving the poll open longer? You’ll find out soon enough. I can’t resist teasing you readers sometimes. iPS cells were the big winners in …
iPS cells top poll as most clinically promising pluripotent stem cells Read More »
Adult stem cells are very powerful and important, but it is basically now an established fact that pluripotent stem cells will have important, unique applications in the clinic. Adult stem cells are not a panacea and we need pluripotent stem cells too. But what is the most promising type of pluripotent stem cell? Take our …
Which pluripotent stem cell type is most clinically promising? Take our poll Read More »