UK biologist Kathy Niakan has asked governmental permission to make GM human embryos using CRISPR. Earlier this year, a research team in China crossed a scientific line for the first time in history by using gene editing technology called CRISPR-Cas9 to make genetically modified (GM) human embryos. Other researchers around the world including now one …
UK Biologist Niakan Asks to Make GM Human Embryos For Research Read More »
For years I have been working to educate the community about the predatory stem cell clinics out there. These clinics prey on vulnerable patients and their families. The clinics use hope as a marketing tool. A weapon. As the number of such clinics has mushroomed in the US and elsewhere the risk to both patients …
Predatory stem cell clinics are winning: what can we do? Read More »
Many of this blog’s readers ask about my own lab’s research: what is the focus of the work in the Knoepfler Lab? You can go check out our lab website, but I thought it might be time again to blog about what we are all about as a lab and what we have been up …
The US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will hold a meeting on heritable human germline modification on December 1-3, 2015 in Washington, D.C. Invitations to the NAS meeting to individuals starting going out last week. The upcoming NAS meeting seeks to address these issues and discuss the possibility of a moratorium on clinical use of …
NAS Meeting on Human Germline Modification Taking Shape Read More »
If you write about science on the web such as a blogger (e.g. me here on The Niche), chances are that your work has been used by someone else without your permission. What can you or should you do about that if anything? This re-use can range from what turn out to be appropriate occurrences …
As science blogger, how to handle plagiarism & other text reuse issues Read More »
It’s a shame that National Geographic (NatGeo) has become part of a corporate empire that is not always consistent, to put it nicely, with data-based reality. Can NatGeo maintain its credibility and impact, when it is owned by a climate change denier (quoted for example as dissing folks as “extreme greenies”) who also has other …
TGIF: NatGeo sell out, GM Humans, Wild West, Science backstabbing, & more Read More »
The international stem cell policy and ethics think tank, the Hinxton Group, weighed in yesterday on heritable human genetic modification with a new policy statement. The Hinxton statement is in many ways in agreement with the Baltimore, et al. Nature paper proposing a “prudent path forward” for human germline genetic modification, which came out of …
Perspectives on Hinxton Human Germline Modification Statement Read More »
A stem cell biotech in the news this week was one that had mostly flown under the radar previously with aim to zap cancer stem cells. Stemcentrx has a focus on killing cancer stem cells as a novel approach to treating cancer. Antonio Regalado had a nice article yesterday on the company. He reports that Stemcentrx has …
Can Stemcentrx thrive as a biotech killing cancer stem cells? Read More »
The winner of the inaugural Ogawa-Yamanaka Prize is Masayo Takahashi, MD, PhD. According to the Gladstone Institute press release, “Dr. Takahashi was awarded the prize for her trailblazing work leading the first clinical trial to use induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells in humans.” The prize, including a $150,000 cash award, will be given at a ceremony …
Masayo Takahashi (高橋 政代) Receives Ogawa-Yamanaka Stem Cell Prize Read More »
I recently ran a poll on my blog about how the FDA is doing on handling stem cell clinics. There is substantial debate in the stem cell arena about how the FDA handles stem cell clinics ranging from the view that the agency is far too strict to excessively lenient. The results of the poll …