TGIF: Guns, stem cells, science weekends reads & good news

I’ve got some TGIF recommend reads on stem cells, etc, but first, what a week, right?

Wakabayashi, et al. Cell Stem Cell Figure 1F
Wakabayashi, et al. Cell Stem Cell Figure 1F

We need more action on preventing gun violence. It’s a uniquely American health crisis that doesn’t have to be. There’s no real, common sense reason that gun control can’t reduce mass killings of our kids and others like the latest one in the Florida high school. That kind of gun control won’t interfere with hunting or other legitimate gun ownership. There are clearly going to be politicians who will not cooperate with even sensible gun control and we should vote them out of office as soon as possible. Okay, I had to get that out there. More gun research would help too.

Back to just science.

Here are some cool science and stem cell recommended weekend reads, headlines, and some good news out there.

“Induced pluripotent stem cells could serve as cancer vaccine” and the source paper led by Joe Wu, which used IPS cell technology for translational cancer research. Very cool. This is at the top of my reading list for the weekend.

“Adult endothelial stem cells can make fully functional blood vessels” and the source paper here also at Cell Stem Cell. Also, see cool image from the paper showing generated blood vessels.

“Will 100 be the new 60? Stem cell start-up that raised $250 million could extend lifespan by decades, help cure cancer”. Hype award for the week and maybe the year (not just this media piece specifically, but this biotech story on Celularity more generally, which I’m going to post more about next week).

“Stem cells zapped with radiation can protect mice from cancer”

Grandmother loses life-savings for stem cell ‘cure’ at St. Louis clinic. Many disturbing elements to this story, but it is all too common.

Opinion piece in Cell Stem Cell: “Could Failure in Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis Justify Editing the Human Embryo Genome?” My answer would be “No”.

“Temporal Layering of Signaling Effectors Drives Chromatin Remodeling during Hair Follicle Stem Cell Lineage Progression” from a team led by the great Elaine Fuchs, of course.

Good news for CIRM and California, as our stem cell agency receives 1st royalty check, a small one but still a big milestone.

Good news on the prostate cancer front with new drugs effective at delaying detectable metastatic spread (for those of you who didn’t know, I am a prostate cancer survivor, now 8+ years out).