Search Results for: national geographic

Explainer on 293 or HEK cells and their use in COVID vaccine research

HEK 293 cells Knoepfler Lab

A type of human cells used in research called HEK cells or 293s has been much in the news lately. This is mainly related to COVID-19 vaccine research. There seem to be many misunderstandings about 293 cells. For that reason, I thought I’d do this post to clear things up. I’ve been working with these …

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TGIF: NatGeo sell out, GM Humans, Wild West, Science backstabbing, & more

Wild-West

It’s a shame that National Geographic (NatGeo) has become part of a corporate empire that is not always consistent, to put it nicely, with data-based reality. Can NatGeo maintain its credibility and impact, when it is owned by a climate change denier (quoted for example as dissing folks as “extreme greenies”) who also has other …

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Weekly reads: chimera cat vs. chimeric rat, cheap sequencing, more

Venus, cat chimera

When you are a stem cell biologist and especially if you do a blog, you sometimes run across very strange things like a chimera cat. In this case, I stumbled on the whole topic of chimeric cats because I was searching for info on chimeric rats on Google. Of course, I was. It’s kind of …

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Weekly science reads: senescence, alt CRISPR, sickle cell update

victoria gray family crispr sickle cell b

Is 2022 going to be any better than 2020 or 2021 when it comes to things in general or for biomedical science? Related to the pandemic? It’s too soon to say but if I had to guess right now I’d venture an optimistic view that overall it’s going to be somewhat better by the end …

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Weekly reads: cats, COVID, Muse cells, cancer stem cells, MS

diana farmer and aijun wang uc davis 1

There have been many other interesting scientific and specifically regenerative medicine developments and papers this past week including with CIRM and exciting CIRM funding to UC Davis so read on, but first a somewhat random question: are you more of a cat person or dog person? I’d say I’m both. But our big dog is …

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Weekly reads: Alzheimer’s, dinosaur brains, teratoma, vampire amoeba, new H3K27me3 reader

vampire-amoeba-sm

Anyone with a seemingly only semi-functional nervous system now post-election might be turning to science to help their brains bounce back. Here are some of the things I’ve been reading or hope to soon. In good news for the stem cell and regenerative medicine field, especially here in California, it looks like us California voters …

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1st autologous IPS cell clinical trial for vision loss in the US

Fig.-4a-Schaub-et-al-JCI-2019-

The NIH announced the launch of the 1st autologous induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cell trial for vision loss in the U.S., focused on macular degeneration. The protocol is based on a solid foundation of pre-clinical animal studies: “Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) are launching a clinical trial to test the safety of a …

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TGIF science links: CRISPR, stem cells, caffeine, & more

CRISPR-pigs

I always like to do a bunch of science reading on the weekend when it’s quiet including stem cells, but also many other areas such as brain tumors and more. Here are some TGIF science links to thought-provoking reading.           CRISPR stuff Where in the world could the first CRISPR baby be …

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TGIF: recommended weekend science reads & a jar full of RNA

GMO-spray-Monsanto1

TGIF recommended weekend reads including thought-provoking reading over a beer, glass of wine, or beaker…and what would RNA taste like? Two from Alexey Bersenev The future of human limb bioengineering Translating Cell Therapies: Academic versus Industry model CIRM blog: two cool recent posts Specialized Embryonic Stem Cells Yield Insights into X Chromosome Inactivation Da Mayor and …

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TGIF: Recommended Science & Medicine Weekend Reads

Happy-The-Elephant

With these recommendations I’m aiming for a diverse range of content and perspectives, some of which I may not agree with, but all of which are interesting even if they are beyond research on medicine. Prostate Organoid from Stem Cells. More organoid news. Why Do Glowing Sharks Glow? Not exactly medicine, but a cool piece …

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