It’s a particularly exciting time for the stem cell field. One of the most notable developments in the last year or so is the production and preliminary study of a totally new type of human embryonic stem cells (ESC) made by nuclear transfer instead of using leftover in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos. This process of so-called …
Dieter Egli Interview: NT-ES cells, IPSC, Mitochondrial Transfer, & More Read More »
A few days ago I attended the World Alliance Forum in San Francisco on stem cells and regenerative medicine. At this meeting in addition to hearing the great talks, meeting new scientists, and having some great discussions in the halls, I had the honor of giving Dr. Masayo Takahashi the 2014 Stem Cell Person of the …
Stem Cell Person of the Year Award Ceremony for Dr. Masayo Takahashi Read More »
Guest post by Lisa Willemse Last month, on this blog, Paul wrote an article about loopholes in the clinicaltrials.gov database that allows for-profit companies to advertise their “therapies” under the guise of a registered clinical trial. This is a real concern for our community, especially those among us who have recommended the clinicaltrials database as …
Super Cells exhibit and why we bother with public outreach Read More »
Tennis superstar Rafael Nadal, 28, is following in the dubious footsteps of many sports stars turning to questionable stem cell “treatments” to relieve what ails them and potentially extend their careers. Nadal (pictured at right in image from Wikipedia) will receive what appears to be a laboratory-grown stem cell product from Dr. Angel Ruiz-Cotorro. ESPN …
Tennis Star Nadal to Get Dubious Stem Cell Treatment Read More »
Below is a list of upcoming stem cell and regenerative medicine conferences and meetings in 2015. If you do not see your meeting, please let me know and I will include it. This list is meant to be as inclusive as possible, but by listing specific events I am not necessarily endorsing them. Enjoy! Genetic …
Advances in therapeutic cloning reported in the past year have been very exciting as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) can be used to produce very powerful human embryonic stem cells (ESC). These new cells are called NT-ESCs for short. Neither embryos nor reprogramming factors are needed to produce human NT-ESCs. See here, here and here for discussions of the pioneering papers reporting creation of …
Future of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer to make ES Cells Read More »
How does one go about cheating death? Who doesn’t want to cheat death? I know I certainly do. Can stem cells help many people in the immediate future to escape death (pictured here in personified form as Death t from Wikipedia)? Recent headlines on new stem cell-related clinical developments would make you think so and …
I put out a call for a flash contest for people to win free registrations to the great stem cell meeting, WAFSF, starting tomorrow in SFO (see meeting info here). The winner is Gonçalo Rodrigues (pictured at right) of UC Berkeley, a visiting Ph.D. student from Portugal. Here’s what he told me as the reason why …
Grad student Gonçalo Rodrigues Wins Free Registration to WAFSF Stem Cell Meeting Read More »
Congratulations to Masayo Takahashi (高橋 政代), MD, PhD, the winner of the 2014 Stem Cell Person of the Year Award. Dr. Takahashi received this award including the $2,000 prize for her exceptional achievements in stem cell research in 2014. She was selected as the winner from a stellar group of top 12 finalists this year. Takahashi leads …
Stem Cell Person of the Year 2014: Masayo Takahashi (高橋 政代) Read More »
Dear UK Parliament and Science and Technology Committee, I am writing to you about your deliberations on “mitochondrial donation” (also known as 3-parent technology) intended for the purpose of preventing heritable mitochondrial disorders. I am concerned about the Department of Health’s recent draft regulations that would allow 3-parent experiments to go forward and the possibility that the UK …