The recent news of Vertex Pharma buying small stem cell biotech ViaCyte and Doug Melton moving to Vertex brought to mind an old stem cell biotech called Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) and its leader, stem cell biologist Dr. Robert Lanza. Years ago, big pharma firm Astellas bought ACT and Lanza moved to be a leader of regenerative […]
In big shift Dr. Robert Lanza exits Astellas Read More »
Late in 2015, one of the pioneering stem cell and regenerative medicine biotechs, Ocata Therapeutics (fka as ACT or Advanced Cell Technology) was acquired by Astellas Pharma. At the time of purchase, Ocata had a number of areas of focus, but was most closely followed for its development of human embryonic stem cell-based retinal pigmented epithelial
Brief update from Bob Lanza on Astellas stem cell program Read More »
I asked Ocata CSO, Bob Lanza, for a comment on the big news of the acquisition of the company by Astellas. Here’s what he had to say: “I can say that this is an exciting time for regenerative medicine. The merger should greatly accelerate the pace of discovery, and, I hope, lead to treatments for
Brief quote from Bob Lanza on Ocata acquisition by Astellas Read More »
Before I did the #icebucketchallenge, I challenged the leader of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), Dr. Bob Lanza, to do the Ice Bucket Challenge. He did it and leading up to it he provided a quite articulate message for context (see video below). Bob is one very cool guy even without ice water. The purpose of the
ACT’s Bob Lanza Does the #IceBucketChallenge Read More »
I did a brief email Q&A interview with Dr. Bob Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) on their new hES MSCs pre-clinical data for Multiple Sclerosis. I discussed the paper itself in a concise review yesterday here. Thanks to Dr. Lanza for doing the interview. 1. Were you surprised at the fact that the therapeutic
Interview with Bob Lanza on new ACT MSCs for MS paper Read More »
It wasn’t so long ago that I did a post explaining why after following the company for years, I finally bought a small amount of stock in the stem cell biotech, Advanced Cell Technology (ACT; symbol ACTC). In part it was motivated by my enthusiasm to see them publishing a paper, a very preliminary paper,
Why Lanza and I sold ACT stock Read More »
Што се матични клетки? (Editor’s note: this is another in our series of stem cell outreach posts. This one provides key information on stem cells in Macedonian.) Што се матични клетки? Што се матични клетки? | Зошто се важни матичните клетки? | Видови на матични клетки | Што се иПМ клетки? | Иднината на терапиите
Што се матични клетки? Read More »
What are embryonic stem cells and how do we scientists obtain them? My lab here at UC Davis School of Medicine has been doing research on embryonic stem cells for more than 14 years. You’ve come to the right place for expert answers on these very intriguing cells. What’s in this article Where do embryonic
What are embryonic stem cells & where do they come from? Read More »
I find following both stem cell news and the stream of interesting publications to be kind of fun and thought-provoking. This past week or two has been very busy. Here is a news summary and list of notable pubs. Stem Cell News on Parkinson’s Disease There were a number of interesting developments on the Parkinson’s
Stem cell news & pubs: Parkinson’s, Freezing, COVID, & More Read More »
Stem cell news is always burbling up, sometimes right there in front of us on the web and other times via networks of people. Astellas news. Some may remember there used to be this pioneering stem cell biotech called ACT, which then became Ocata, and finally was acquired by the big company Astellas. One of
Stem cell news bites: Astellas trial, cystic fibrosis claim, a few cool papers Read More »