On his show, Conan O’Brien on Monday (7/29/13) made a stem cell joke, perhaps without even realizing it. The joke was reprinted in the SacBee this morning (see image at right). The joke is based on the recent development of a synthetic hamburger made from stem cells in a lab (you can read more here). …
Conan O’Brien Makes Stem Cell Joke on Test Tube Burger Read More »
In about a month my new book, Stem Cells: An Insider’s Guide, should be available as an e-book from the publisher and from Amazon. It’s available for pre-order now at Amazon here. The “real” book (i.e. the one made of paper) should be available in September. The book costs $29. Any writers out there interested in doing …
Stem Cells An Insider’s Guide: More on My New Book Read More »
Every now and I then I try to take some time to think about the focus of this blog and the direction it is going. In the most recent case, I got the feeling that perhaps I have giving too discouraged or negative an impression on the blog lately….focusing too much on the challenges and …
Why I am very optimistic about the future of the stem cell field Read More »
This is the fourth post in a series I’m doing on an FOIA release of letters between Texas stem cell clinic Celltex and the FDA. The first three posts, which include helpful background and discussion of other FOIA material from Celltex, can be found here, here, and here. Today’s post is focused on a newly …
Celltex FDA FOIA Letter #3 Raises Key New Questions Read More »
A new paper suggests a hopeful short-term safety profile of laboratory-grown stem cells for treatment of arthritis, but there are some important limitations to the study too. A debate continues to bubble over whether to classify laboratory-propagated stem cells as biological drugs. A persistent issue has been whether the growth of stem cells in culture …
Short-term safety of lab-grown stem cells for arthritis: encouraging, but key caveats Read More »
One of the more controversial areas in the stem cell field has been over a stem cell type that only a handful of researchers have been able to find and study: very small embryonic-like stem cells or VSELs. These days some are calling them V-cells too. I’ve been getting an increasing number of questions from …
What are VSELs and why are more clinics selling them? Read More »
Today’s post is my no-B.S. guide to the possibility of stem cells being used to treat Multiple Sclerosis (MS). There is a great deal of buzz about using stem cells to treat or even cure multiple sclerosis. How much of this stem cell buzz is real hope and how much is hype? MS has a …
A no B.S. guide to stem cells for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Read More »
I recently did a poll on people’s reactions to the new paper reporting use an all-chemical approach to making iPS cells through cellular reprogramming. I got a good number of responses relatively quickly. The results so far suggest that by far most people think it is too soon to know the importance of this new …
An NIH and CIRM-funded postdoctoral fellow position in the Knoepfler Lab at UC Davis School of Medicine is open. The focus of research will be on the epigenomic functions of Myc and other chromatin regulatory factors in human iPS cells and ES cells. Preference will be given to applicants who do not already have postdoctoral experience, but …
Stem Cell Job Opening: Post-Doc in Knoepfler Lab at UC Davis School of Medicine Read More »
How important is the new development of all chemical reprogramming to make iPS cells? The group led by Hongkui Deng at Peking University in Beijing reported in Science that they used 7 chemicals to make what appear to be mouse iPS cells. I’m hearing a wide range of opinions directly from people in the know. What’s …
What do you think of all chemical reprogramming? Take our poll Read More »