The big news of the week was a $3.6 million settlement by a stem cell clinic, StemGenex, and one of its doctors in a class-action suit. I covered this StemGenex settlement and so did Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times and Paul Schloesser at Endpoints. I’d say this was good news for the stem cell field …
Stem cell weekly reads: Jamie Thomson, Lamin B1, CRISPR Read More »
By Jeanne Loring. On Wednesday afternoon at the ISSCR meeting in Boston, Jamie Thomson gave a talk about the history of human pluripotent stem cells. There were probably only a dozen people in the audience of around 3,000 who were working on human ES cells around the same time that Jamie and Joseph Itskovitz-Eldor were …
Jeanne Loring’s Thought-Provoking Guest Post on Jamie Thomson’s ISSCR Talk Read More »
Early during my postdoc I was primarily interested in the role of Myc genes both in cancer and in stem cells, work that later included embryonic stem cells. These cells are often called ES cells. At first I first started studying N-Myc in neural stem cells using a conditional knockout approach. However, soon after I was …
Weekly reads: embryonic stem cells, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s Read More »
Induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells just might be the most exciting development in the stem cell field over the last 15 years. They have unique potential for clinical impact for regenerative medicine too. This may manifest both through their use to produce differentiated cellular therapies and indirectly via disease modeling as well as …
What are induced pluripotent stem cells or IPS cells? Read More »
By Jeanne Loring A stem cell anniversary: 18 years ago today that the US initiated funding of human embryonic stem cell research. August 9, 2001 was a big day for me. George W. Bush was the US president, and it was an understatement to say that I was not very fond of his policies; but …
Jeanne Loring: hES cell research, Bush, & her career Read More »
It seems like Fridays are always a good time for reflection. It’s not like the scientist’s week ends on Friday sad to say, but still at least we can pause momentarily TGIF style and reflect on the maelstrom that is our lives, while cracking open another diet Coke or pouring another cup of coffee. This …
TGIF: Stem Cell Stream of Consciousness Including CRISPR Read More »
The challenge to the WARF/Jamie Thomson patents/IP on human embryonic stem cells (hESC) is at an end. The US Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Earlier, the USPTO had turned down the challenge leading to a winding road in the courts. What do you all think of this stem cell IP challenge and the …
Supreme Court Rejection of WARF hESC Patent Challenge Discussion Read More »
The great news of Yamanaka and Gurdon getting the Nobel Prize for cellular reprogramming is still resonating in the stem cell field. My heartfelt congratulations to two amazing biologists! Also still ringing in my ears from so many people contacting me about what is becoming a somewhat infamous “empty” third slot that the Nobel Committee …
Stem cell revolutionaries Drs. Shinya Yamanaka and John Gurdon have won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Gurdon cloned for the first animal, a frog, and Yamanaka produced induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a kind of stem cell with the power of pluripotency, but derived from ordinary non-stem cells. Gurdon’s work was based …
Nobel Prize 2012 for stem cells to Yamanaka & Gurdon: why only 2? Read More »
What are iPS cells? We talk about iPS cells all the time. We are very excited about them. Heck, the web address for this blog is ipscell.com. But what are iPS cells, really? A simple definition of iPS cells is the following: Embryonic stem cell-like cells that are made from non-stem cells in a lab. …