Month: March 2015

Was Fujifilm CDI acquisition a good move by the companies?

Fujifilm-Logo

The big stem cell news already this week is the acquisition by Fujifilm of Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) for a whopping $307 million dollars or about $16.50 per CDI share. You can read the press release here. Update: The entity is now known as Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics. It was less than two years ago that CDI did …

Was Fujifilm CDI acquisition a good move by the companies? Read More »

Got that grant hamster wheel feeling?

EscherMobius

If you work in academia and on grants, hen you might have been getting that grant Möbius strip, hamster wheel, Groundhog Day kind of feeling… The funding rate for the key so-called “R01” NIH laboratory biomedical grant has never been lower. In the long run, R01s are crucial to the everyday running of most biomedical …

Got that grant hamster wheel feeling? Read More »

Genetic Modification of Humans Now Inevitable?

egg-edit

Discussion of concerns over heritable human genetic modification has spiked in 2015. This dialogue is a good thing, but is it in a sense too late? Are genetically modified (GM) people a foregone conclusion? Rumors are swirling that upwards of four papers reporting production of GM human embryos are in various stages of review at high-profile …

Genetic Modification of Humans Now Inevitable? Read More »

Risks for Healthy PBSC Donors? One Family’s Powerful Experience

stem cell donor, where do stem cells come from?

By Jane Langille A few weeks ago, I wrote to Dr. Paul Knoepfler after reading his book Stem Cells: An Insider’s Guide because I was intrigued by his stem cell theory of aging. I wondered if his theory might mean that someone who mobilized and donated hematopoietic cells might be shortening their own lifetime supply. After …

Risks for Healthy PBSC Donors? One Family’s Powerful Experience Read More »

New biotech Semma Therapeutics stem cell diabetes arena

Semma_05-4065

A new biotech startup, Semma Therapeutics, announced that it seeks to fight diabetes via translating technology from the lab of Doug Melton at Harvard to the clinic. Update: Note that the firm was recently acquired by Vertex. Another major player in cell therapy-based arena for Diabetes is most likely good news for patients. Quoted in the Boston …

New biotech Semma Therapeutics stem cell diabetes arena Read More »

Lisa Ikemoto on Human Germline Genetic Modification

ikemoto-lisa

This guest piece on Human Germline Genetic Modification is by Lisa C. Ikemoto, Professor, U.C. Davis School of Law. I have been following the reports about genetic editing technology with concern. The fact that some scientists are calling for moratoria on gene editing of human embryos heartens me. Frankly, I had little confidence that any …

Lisa Ikemoto on Human Germline Genetic Modification Read More »

Practical Plan for Managing Human Germline CRISPR

ABCD-Plan-Human-Germline-Modification

CRISPR Cas9 gene editing technology is a game changer on many levels both inside and soon outside the lab. There is a growing sense of urgency amongst biomedical scientists to take a proactive approach to current and future use of CRISPR gene editing technology in human germ cells and embryos. These concerns have been heightened …

Practical Plan for Managing Human Germline CRISPR Read More »

David Baltimore, et al. path for human germline engineering

human-germline-editing-policy

In a new perspectives piece in Science, Nobel Laureate David Baltimore and co-authors including Jennifer Doudna and George Church, chart a potential path forward for human germline engineering. See also accompanying Bioethics piece by Gretchen Vogel as well, “Embryo engineering alarm”. In the piece, entitled “A prudent path forward for genomic engineering and germline gene …

David Baltimore, et al. path for human germline engineering Read More »

ISSCR calls for moratorium on clinical application of human germline nuclear genome editing

ISSCR_logo

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) just now released a new policy statement on human germline gene editing. The statement calls for a ban on clinical application of human germline gene editing technology. Here is the brief summary statement at the beginning: The International Society for Stem Cell Research calls for a moratorium on …

ISSCR calls for moratorium on clinical application of human germline nuclear genome editing Read More »