This is the first post in a series focusing on stem cell advances related to specific diseases. Today we discuss Huntington’s Disease and a paper that came out yesterday in the journal Neuron that provides some significant insight into the mechanisms behind the disease. It is entitled: Huntingtin Is Required for Mitotic Spindle Orientation and …
Update: Now in 2020 it seems that peer review remains very problematic. The Scientist has a few pieces out on the trouble with peer review including my personal favorite: I Hate Your Paper. That article rings so true as do the quotes from the scientists. Peer review in the stem cell field and the IPS cell …
I Hate Your Paper: Dr. No and the Editors that are ruining peer review Read More »
Regenerative medicine is very exciting. But what’s even better than regenerative medicine? Preventative medicine. If one can prevent a problem for occurring in the first place, it is far better than trying to treat it after the fact. Of course in many cases we do not know the causes of diseases so it is difficult …
Update in 2020: It was kind of wild to read this post now so many years later as an “old” professor, seemingly ages from the realm of new PIs (principle investigators). What do you think? You can read more about the current state of our lab here. It’s an exciting feeling coming into a new …
Advice for new PIs part I: start before you start Read More »
A paper just came out in PNAS entitled “Promotion of direct reprogramming by transformation-deficient Myc“. The main thrust of this paper is that the tumorigenic and pluripotency-related functions of Myc could be separated. It focused primarily on the lesser studied LMyc. The topic of the intertwined good (pluripotency) and bad (tumorigenicity) functions of Myc, addressed …
Tumorigenicity and Pluripotency teased apart? Not yet for Myc Read More »
Update in 2020: Wow, a lot has changed since this post almost 10 years ago, but Cell Stem Cell remains the main publisher of IPS cell articles still. The young iPSC field has published a truly massive number of papers in just 4 years. Searching ISI Web of Knowledge for papers with titles reflecting iPSC …
Striking iPS cell research publishing trends: what do they mean? Read More »
Update in 2020: It seems now after all these years that the consensus in the now more mature field is that IPSCs and ESCs are nearly identical in most cases, and both have some of the same translational challenges such as teratoma-forming activity. It’s interesting to read this post from nearly 10 years ago and …
iPS cells coming into focus: not quite so similar to ESC after all Read More »