Yesterday I ran a cancer stem cells meeting here at UC Davis School of Medicine. We had some great speakers and over 150 participants including our outstanding keynote speaker, Dr. Jeremy Rich, Director of Stem Cell Research at the Cleveland Clinic. One of the ideas percolating through the meeting was that during cancer development, there […]
Cancer stem cells and iPS cells Read More »
Behind the stem cell “war” that has been going on for years is a deceptively simple question: when does the life of a human being begin? As someone who works with human embryonic stem cells and iPS cells, I’ve given this a lot of thought. But first, before I post on that, I want to
When Does Human Life Begin? Please take part in our poll Read More »
Why invest in stem cells? Ideas are the foundation of stem cell research, but funding makes those ideas a reality. We talk a lot about governmental funding of stem cell research through CIRM and NIH. The funding from these agencies is essential and will undoubtedly lead to new treatments and cures, possibly for millions of
Why invest in stem cells? Progress, Patients, and Patents Read More »
Since Yamanaka’s discovery of iPS cells first in mouse and then in human cells 5 years ago, both made using viral transduction, a host of new methods to make iPS cells have been reported. These methods are quite diverse, ranging from transposons, to recombinant proteins, to plasmids, and to RNA. Often times these new approaches
Why miRNA iPS cells might be the ticket: an A+ paper Read More »
CIRM announced two sets of awards today that both should make major impact including its first clinical trial via Geron and $38 million for 27 basic biology studies. First Clinical Trial. Today CIRM awarded $25 million to support Geron’s FDA-approved clinical trial for spinal cord injury. This is CIRM’s first award to a for-profit company
CIRM funds $25 million for Geron trial, $38 million for basic biology Read More »
There are a lot of myths in the stem cell field, some even embraced by some stem cell scientists such as the notion that teratoma are always benign. But when we start talking about translating stem cell technology into the clinic, to the bedside, it is especially important to cast aside our myths, no
Myth of Perfect Stem Cell: meaning for ACT, Geron and field Read More »
It seems reasonably likely that in the end, the final say on the embryonic stem cell case one way or another will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. While yesterday brought a victory for science and patients and logic, this was just one battle, not the war. The war that opponents of ES cell
How would the Supreme Court rule on embryonic stem cells? Read More »
A Federal Appeals Court ruled 2-1 today to overturn Judge Lamberth’s injunction against federal funding of ES cell research. Great news! You can read the decision here (warning: big pdf). A key part of the ruling was the following: “the plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail because Dickey-Wicker is ambiguous and the NIH seems reasonably to
Victory for science and patients: what the appeals court ES cell ruling means (UPDATE) Read More »
The California Public Safety Committee today passed AB 190 and in so doing has funded the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act! The action will provide up to $11 million a year in funding for spinal cord injury research. This is amazing news and is the result of a lot of hard work by
Roman Reed Act is funded! A great day for spinal cord injury research! Read More »
Tweets from a stem cell? Is that possible? This is one of my favorite pieces and a reader favorite getting hundreds of hits! Let me know what you think. If a stem cell could talk, what would it say (tweet?) I imagine stem cells like teenagers. So much potential but at times difficult. Below is
Greatest Hits: Tweets from a stem cell Read More »