Blood testing biotech Theranos finds itself in a hole that seemingly just keeps getting deeper with the report today that the company is under criminal investigation. Can it bounce back? Some people are really upset with Theranos for allegedly making misleading statements including both to investors and the government about its technologies. It’s no exaggeration …
Will there be a Theranos of the stem cell field? Read More »
I talked last year about human genetic modification by CRISPR with George Church a year ago. Now we’ve followed up with a long chat on this topic going into much more detail and with questions on recent developments. Each question is listed numerically and then there is a back and forth on that question with George …
George Church chat: CRISPR people, Zika, weapons Read More »
One of the rewarding things about being a scientist is the opportunity to connect and even collaborate with other scientists around the world., but at the same time there is nationalism in science too. Some nations, perhaps most of them, and some scientists feel a sense of competition against others at least some of the time. …
My youngest kiddo and I went to Picnic Day today, which was as always a lot of fun. Not so fun was that the college student right behind us on the bus on the way there started vomiting like crazy (think splash risk) probably from too much drinking the night before, but we didn’t let …
A new paper from Shoukhrat Mitalipov’s lab on stem cell mitochondria points to a pattern whereby induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells tend to have more problems if they are from older patients. What does this paper mean for the stem cell field and could it impact more specifically the clinical applications of IPS cells? The new …
New Mitalipov paper on stem cell mitochondria: challenge for IPS cell field? Read More »
Four or five years ago the top stem cell story was the battle over federal funding of human embryonic stem (ES) cell research in the U.S. by James Sherley and Theresa Deisher. They were the two opponents of ES cell research making the most national headlines. Nature did a whole piece back then on Deisher …
Where are ES cell foes James Sherley & Theresa Deisher now? Read More »
It’s been a busy few weeks for the CRISPR arena so I’ve made a CRISPR Update. I’ve listed below links to some commentaries and key developments. Fun Video interview on Read Science! with Joanne Manaster on my new book on CRISPR in humans, GMO Sapiens. CRISPR: Pursuit of profit poisons collaboration, Nature piece by Jacob Sherkow …
There’s been an interesting and diverse discussion going on here on this blog lately related to some stem cell translational things including a stem cell clinic operating in Sacramento (see 50+ comments on that post) and then more recently on a new paper from the Centeno clinic. .@pknoepfler Did most (or all) participants in this study pay …
Do for-profit stem cell studies have inherent potential biases? Read More »
The number of people around the world being injected with stem cells every day has never been higher and the heterogeneous group of medical providers doing these procedures is also at or near its highest level ever. The cells used are also highly variable as are the procedures themselves, but most of these cells fall under the …
Review of Centeno MSC safety paper: without controls, conclusions muted Read More »
The biggest debate today in the stem cell world is over how much regulation is needed for new, investigational stem cell therapies that are not as yet approved. Sometimes it feels very lonely being out there publicly advocating for appropriately thorough regulation of stem cell therapies and at times I get a lot of heat for …
Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) Opposes REGROW Act, Risks to Patients Cited Read More »