Sometimes a stem cell cartoon has more impact than words. With growing pressure, including political pressure on the FDA, to deregulate the point-of-care, for-profit stem cell clinic industry, one can only imagine a future in which deregulation has taken its natural course…..that’s what I’ve done in the political cartoon above. A “double shot” takes on […]
Cartoon on the future of stem cell deregulation Read More »
Human cloning is an important issue at both scientific and societal levels. Earlier I included a guest post from bioethicist, Arthur Caplan, on human cloning. Today I am posting a short Q&A with Nobel Laureate John Gurdon. I asked Gurdon three specific questions and below each I have listed his answer. My sense is that
Nobel Laureate John Gurdon not a fan of idea of human cloning Read More »
I’ve been running a poll on just how similar iPS cells are to ES cells. Most respondents do not think iPS cells are functionally identical to ES cells as only 18% said they were identical. Double that number say unequivocally that iPS cells are not functionally the same as ES cells. The greatest number of
Results of stem cell poll: only 18% say iPS cells are functionally identical to ES cells Read More »
This is the first in a new series of posts I’m doing in lessons I’ve learned from the ever-increasing number of patients who contact me directly or are readers of this blog who make great comments. Today’s post is focused on the lack of availability of and exclusions of the vast majority of patients from
Lessons from patients: stem cell clinical trials unlikely option for most patients Read More »
I deal with many patient advocates and that is one of my favorite parts of my job. They are wonderful! However some go above and beyond the call of duty and are model advocates in my opinion. Others do some great things, but also some negative things such as attacking the FDA publicly, which serves
The model of a patient advocate: what are the key elements of success? Read More »
I’m doing this series called “The Elephant in the Lab” where I discuss controversial or taboo laboratory topics that people are usually too afraid to publicly discuss. I started with iPS cells (for a description and definition of iPS cells go here) and now have updated this post for 2013 because the field is changing rapidly. iPS
Taboo topics about iPS cells: updated for 2013 Read More »
Hungarian Mit nevezünk őssejtnek? Az emberi test több száz különböző, a mindennapi életünkhöz nélkülözhetetlen sejttípusból épül fel. Ezen sejtek biztosítják testünk folyamatos működését, felelősek szívverésünkért, azért, hogy agyunk gondolkodik, vesénk megtisztítja vérünket, hogy lekopó bőrsejtjeink pótlódnak stb. Az őssejtek egyedi feladata az összes különféle működő sejttípus előállítása. Az őssejtek felelősek az új sejtek képződéséért. Az
Mit nevezünk őssejtnek? Read More »
The Knoepfler Lab 2012 Stem Cell Person of the Year is Roman Reed. Congratulations, Roman! Roman made a tremendous difference in 2012 in many ways. One of the most notable was catalyzing the TJ Atchison Spinal Cord Injury Research Act in Alabama, which provides $400,000/year in funding for research. Of course, TJ and many others
Stem Cell Person of the Year 2012: Roman Reed Read More »
I’ve already talked with science writer Ed Yong about the new Nature paper Araki, et al. (you can read Ed’s well-written piece here and you can another one on it by another one of my favorite writers, Monya Baker here), which suggests that iPS cells don’t trigger much in the way of an immune response. I
Some thoughts on the Araki Nature iPS cell paper: an advance, but a few key caveats Read More »