New genetic modification technology such as CRISPR-Cas9 has opened the door to transformative biological research, but it has also set the table for some novel kinds of technological problems for which we aren’t at all prepared including one that I call the “gene spill”. The striking potential upsides to CRISPR paired with some of the …
A new possible environmental disaster: the gene spill Read More »
What is stem cell snake oil? Stem cells are exotic things ensconced away in biomedical research labs, right? Well, maybe not entirely so these days. It turns out that you can try to sell products for a lot of money by slapping “stem cells” on the label including cosmetics. Take Nordstrom’s. It has 80 stem …
Stem cell snake oil for sale at Nordstrom, Amazon, & Ebay? Read More »
When I was a kid I would sometimes have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. PB&J, as we called it, was a good choice for lunch. No refrigeration needed, not that we worried that much about that kind of thing back then just like seatbelts and secondhand smoke. Thinking back, PB&J in the 1970s was …
Sounds recommended weekend reads for you to enjoy since it is Friday and almost the weekend including stem cells, CRISPR, cats, cloning, and more. Holy GMO, China wants to buy Syngenta. RetractionWatch says that Macchiarini will soon be out at Karolinska. For more on this “super surgeon” who used stem cells, see here regarding recent Vanity …
TGIF weekend reads: stem cells, GMOs, #CRISPR, cats, cloning and more Read More »
Clinical research on Type I Diabetes is one of the most exciting and promising areas of stem cells and regenerative medicine for human disease. Two of the coolest companies out there in this arena have been ViaCyte and BetaLogics (owned by J&J). For more on ViaCyte see my interview with President and CEO Paul Laikind …
ViaCyte on the Rise: First Diabetes Trial Data & Acquires BetaLogics IP Read More »
A new report from the National Academies of Sciences (NAS), Engineering, and Medicine here in the US recommends a policy significantly more cautious on first read for 3-person IVF than that in place now in the UK. My initial take on this new 164-page report is that it is very well thought out and the …
California stem cell biotech, StemCells, Inc. ($STEM), has really struggled for years and its stock is now flatlining raising the question: can it cheat death? Will 2016 be the year that STEM turns things around? So far this year hasn’t started off that well. You can see the graph at right from today on the …
With the approval today of the use of CRISPR in human embryos, the UK continues its recent trend toward a more permissive regulatory policy on human genetic modification. There are both risks and scientific benefits that come along with this trend. Last year the UK approved an experimental technology with the goal of preventing the …
CRISPR embryo OK signals ongoing liberal UK trend on human modification Read More »