It has been a week to think about mentors and I posted somewhat autobiographically on how to find and be a good mentor a few days ago. Also along these lines, I asked one of the great mentors of all time, Irv Weissman, about his early career and who were the mentors that made the …
People are the real driving force in the stem cell and regenerative medicine field including my colleague Jan Nolta here at UC Davis. She is the Director of our Stem Cell Program. There’s also news about Stanford’s stem cell Director Irv Weissman. Jan Nolta receives award Jan’s lab is prolific and in many ways is …
Weekly reads: Jan Nolta recognition, new director after Irv, FDA guidance Read More »
What is immune rejuvenation? How would that work and what would be the benefits? As we age, our immune systems can change in unhelpful and unhealthy ways. One such change is a drift in the balance of production of different kinds of immune cells. Such a shift can lead to too many of some immune …
As we think about how much of a role belief should play in the hard sciences such as cell biology, a supposed cell type called VSEL or very-small embryonic stem cell-like cells comes to mind. For these guys it seems to me that the ratio of data to belief isn’t great. VSELs have nine lives. I …
The role of belief in hard science: the VSEL case Read More »
Does aging do something to time so it seems like as you get older that time goes by faster? Remember as a little kid when summer seemed to last forever and car rides could be agonizingly long? I’ve heard two theories on this. One is that the brain’s baseline of activity slows down with aging …
Weekly stem cell reads: aging & cells, iPS cell mutations, gut, more Read More »
A few people in the stem cell field keep arguing that adult pluripotent stem cells exist, including so-called “very small embryonic-like stem cells” or VSEL stem cells. These days the supposed cells are called VSELs or V-cells too. Only a handful of researchers have ever been able to report finding and studying these cells. Others …
What if you could get 8-year grants to do whatever biomedical research you wanted? This sounds like a dream for many of us in the life sciences, but the first news item this week is all about such a potential new funding approach. The item especially caught my eye as I’m going to be doing …
Weekly reads: hydra heads, iblastoids, new 8-year grants Read More »
The stem cell field has puzzled on and off for years over a constellation of papers on purported stem cells including so-called VSEL and MUSE cells. Many of us haven’t been convinced that these are real stem cells. I see VSEL and MUSE fitting into a larger pattern of dubious stem cell claims including the STAP …
STAP cell deja vu? 28 VSEL papers flagged by Bik Read More »
It’s notable how the FDA now considers gene-editing a kind of regenerative medicine. This means that various gene therapy products in development technically qualify as regenerative therapies. Ever since the agency began its rapidly growing regenerative medicine advanced therapy (RMAT) designation program, we’ve seen an increasing number of gene therapy biotechs and products qualify as …
Regenerative medicine recommended reads including $191 million to researcher Read More »
The FDA is holding its first 2016 stem cell meeting today. How’s the meeting going? The meeting start awfully early for us West Coast folks (5:30am) so I didn’t get to see the first few talks. Did anyone else see those and if so, what was your impression? From the talks I have seen, this meeting …