Prostate cancer and PSA tests: perspectives of a young survivor

cancer stem cells

How has prostate cancer changed my life?  On Sunday I was working on grading some papers before dinner when up popped a “you’ve got mail” kind of message. The email said that my PSA (the blood test for prostate cancer) test results were ready. Yay! I was diagnosed with a serious prostate cancer about 28 months …

Prostate cancer and PSA tests: perspectives of a young survivor Read More »

Does the Vatican view the American pro-life community as a bunch of out of control bozos?

Does the Vatican view the American pro-lifers as a bunch of wacky extremists? An article today certainly suggest this. What’s going on? The Vatican, Catholics more generally, and  “pro-lifers”, as designated by the Catholic website CatholicCulture.org are still apparently very much at odds over a now cancelled Vatican conference on stem cells that would have included …

Does the Vatican view the American pro-life community as a bunch of out of control bozos? Read More »

Why aren’t there vertebrate super pygmies?

Why aren’t there are super pygmy vertebrates? For most vertebrate animals, their early embryonic development unfolds in extremely congruent fashions. Embryo growth is stem cell-dependent and in large part, despite different gestational periods, the molecular and cellular machinery that controls vertebrate development is almost perfectly conserved. Yet at maturity vertebrates end up with a range …

Why aren’t there vertebrate super pygmies? Read More »

Vote in our poll for your favorite stem cell journal

The stem cell research field is hot. It has been a sexy field for a long time, only made the sexier by the discovery of iPS cells in 2006. Not surprisingly, the number of publications on stem cells is increasing and there is an ever-increasing number of journals devoted specifically to stem cells. Interest in …

Vote in our poll for your favorite stem cell journal Read More »

Dr. Florence Sabin, Great American Scientist and Trailblazer for Women in Science

I am currently researching an article on the “discovery” of stem cells and the earliest stem cell research. Stay tuned for that. As I’ve been educating myself on the early history of stem cells I became familiar with a scientist that I had not previously heard of during my career who played a key role …

Dr. Florence Sabin, Great American Scientist and Trailblazer for Women in Science Read More »

Seven sins of scientists part 2: paper or grant killing

I started my series on the sins of scientists last week with a piece called “Failure to Cite”. “Failure to cite” refers to the practice whereby some scientists choose not to cite the papers of their competitors, to make their own seem more novel, or as payback to folks they consider their “enemies”. In today’s …

Seven sins of scientists part 2: paper or grant killing Read More »

Stem cell surprises on April Fools Day

What would be the most foolish, surprising, fun stem cell headlines on April Fools Day? 1) Family Research Council surprises world by announcing at April 1 press conference that they endorse embryonic stem cell research and arguing that it has great promise. They advocate pursuing both adult and embryonic stem cell research to help the …

Stem cell surprises on April Fools Day Read More »

Anti-stem cell activists target Kraft, Campbell’s and Nestle

Alphabet-Soup

Anyone getting tired of those anti-stem cell activists folks slamming Pepsi for supposedly using stem cells in their flavor research, when in reality the cells in question are not stem cells? Maybe the Pepsi-haters are too as they are now reportedly on the case of Kraft and Nestle too as well as Campbell’s, which makes …

Anti-stem cell activists target Kraft, Campbell’s and Nestle Read More »

Dr Lookgood, dermatologist to the stars, gets FDA warning letter

Dr-LookGood1

If you ever had a really bad day, March 13, 2012 might have been just such a bad day for one Dr. Steven Victor, aka “Dr LookGood”, because he received an official warning letter from the FDA. Why? Dr. Victor, who reportedly greets each patient with the catch phrase “You look so much more beautiful than your picture”, is …

Dr Lookgood, dermatologist to the stars, gets FDA warning letter Read More »