2014 - Page 2 of 28

Harvard Sued by Anversa Over Stem Cell Paper Misconduct Investigation

December 17, 2014 February 1, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 4 Comments

Brigham and Women’s Hospital cardiac stem cell researcher Piero Anversa along with collaborator Annarosa Leri (pictured) are suing both the hospital and Harvard Medical School as well as leaders at the institutions over a research misconduct investigation focused on Anversa and Leri. Boston Globe reporter Carolyn Johnson has been covering Anversa and for background on this new …

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Stem cell crystal ball: how did my 2014 predictions fare?

December 17, 2014 February 1, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

Every year I look into my stem cell crystal ball and make a top 10 list of stem cell predictions for the coming year. My predictions for 2015 will be coming up soon and I may bump them up to 20 predictions instead of 10 because there’s so much going on in the field. Stay …

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Paul Allen Gives $100 Million for New Institute for Cell Science with Major Focus on Stem Cells

December 15, 2014 February 1, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

For the worlds of biology and cell biology including the stem cell field more specifically, the holidays came early with some fantastic news. Philanthropist and Microsoft co-Founder Paul Allen will give $100 million to form a new institute focused on cell biology in Seattle. The Allen Institute for Cell Science has an ambitious mission dedicated to …

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STAP cell 2.0? New stem cell paper controversy ready to erupt

December 14, 2014 February 1, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 13 Comments

Did you eventually get sick of the whole STAP mess and all the baggage that came with it? Stay tuned for STAP 2.0 or perhaps I should say STAP junior. Just as STAP is starting to fade a bit from our radar screens, there is unfortunately a new very problematic stem cell paper situation coming soon …

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Sunflower in winter, fungi, & other weekend garden musings

December 13, 2014 February 1, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

It’s not technically winter, but it sure feels like it. Cold, rain, and darkness are here as the winter solstice approaches in less than two weeks. Imagine my surprise then to find a sunflower blooming in my Davis, CA garden along with my winter crops of beets, carrots, peas, cilantro, etc. You can see my …

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Hottest Science Articles of 2014 in a Word Cloud

December 12, 2014 February 1, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D.

Altmetrics a relatively new way of ranking scientific articles based on metrics that include social media impact. The company Altmetric came out with their Top 100 articles for 2014, which is a fun list to check out. A quicker way to get the gestalt of them collectively is from a word cloud (above) made from the title …

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Fuzzy New Stem Cells Bring Reprogramming into Focus

December 10, 2014 February 1, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

How cool is it that literally fuzzy new stem cells called “F-class cells” bring substantial new sharp focus to the cellular reprograming arena? Remember Project Grandiose led by the great stem cell scientist Andras Nagy? It’s a massive project intended to decipher what makes stem cells tick and how ordinary cells be changed or reprogrammed into powerful …

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Harvard Predicts Fat Burning Stem Cell Pill To Replace Exercise

December 9, 2014 February 1, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 8 Comments

A hot topic in biomedical sciences is converting white “bad” fat into brown “good” fat. The latter type of adipose is viewed more positively because it seems to be associated with a relatively metabolically more active, leaner state. Could we somehow convert white adipose to brown adipose and in so doing have a beneficial effect …

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STAP Voted as the Stem Cell Story of the Year for 2014

December 8, 2014 February 1, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

When I asked the readers of this blog what they felt was the biggest stem cell story of 2014 in a poll, they overwhelmingly picked the STAP cell scandal. For background on STAP you can toggle through the many STAP cell pieces on this blog here, see a STAP timeline, and a STAP image gallery. Basically, …

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Did NBC News Err On Key Part of Their Stem Cell Report?

December 7, 2014 February 1, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 10 Comments

NBC News did a big on-line story and even a NBC Nightly News Segment on dubious stem cell therapies on Friday. Normally a national news story on the problem of the mushrooming stem cell clinics selling unapproved “treatments” would be a positive development, but this otherwise very nicely done story might have a major error that could confuse millions …

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Year: 2014