There’s never enough time to get all of one’s science reading done, but we can try! It helps to have a list of “to-read” articles, whether actual research articles or media pieces. In the old days, I remember my mentors saying they literally had “piles” of journal articles on their coffee tables, bathrooms, bedrooms, etc. …
Weekly recommended science reads: stem cells, CRISPR, cancer & more Read More »
ViaCyte is one of the most exciting stem cell and regenerative medicine biotech companies so I like to try to check in with them regularly. Today’s post is my new interview with ViaCyte leader Paul Laikind on recent developments. We had a great chat about the science and how things are looking upbeat for the …
ViaCyte Q&A: CRISPR Tx quick progress, ongoing diabetes trial, & more Read More »
We heard this week about the encouraging news of a new CRISPR-stem cell collaboration between stem cell biotech ViaCyte and CRISPR Therapeutics. The goal of the team is to make genetically engineered pancreatic derivatives from stem cells that would have a unique immune stealthiness. If such an approach was successful, patients would not need to …
Quick Q&A with ViaCyte CEO on CRISPR-stem cell work Read More »
What happens when one of the most exciting stem cell biotechs ViaCyte teams up with a firm like CRISPR Therapeutics to use a combination of gene editing and cell therapy? Hopefully a synergistic partnership emerges that in this case can develop an effective stem cell-based therapy for diabetes. You can see a press release on …
ViaCyte & CRISPR Therapeutics team up to battle diabetes Read More »
When I think of the promise of stem cells for diabetes, the privately held California stem cell firm ViaCyte is the first biotech that comes to mind now. It has promising stem cell clinical trial work building. Today’s post is a new interview with the company’s CEO Paul Laikind. For past posts on ViaCyte see here, which …
ViaCyte Interview on Diabetes Stem Cell Trials & Cool Role of Gore-Tex Tech Read More »
Statins have been hailed as some of the best drugs ever. Given the massive, deadly prevalence of cardiovascular disease, some have even semi-jokingly talked about putting these drugs in the water supply for public health. The growing evidence (e.g. this story) that statins might significantly aid in prevention, delayed progression, or even post-treatment delay of …
Statins dilemma: heart & cancer benefits, but diabetes risk Read More »
It’s been exciting to watch the recent developments in using stem cells as the basis for treatments for Type I Diabetes. One of the major players in this arena is the privately-held company, ViaCyte. In this post, I interview ViaCyte President and CEO, Paul Laikind. The topics include their VC-01 product, the Encaptra device, an update on …
ViaCyte CEO Laikind Interview: Trial Update, Melton, & Future Read More »
Chalk up another exciting development for the stem cell and regenerative medicine field in 2014 related to diabetes. It’s been a huge year. (Update: read my Fall 2019 interview with ViaCyte here.) For the first time ever, an ES cell-based device has been transplanted into a diabetic patient. ViaCyte working together with Dr. Robert Henry …
Diabetes Stem Cell Milestone: ViaCyte Transplants 1st Patient Read More »
All the recent high-profile papers that are having troubles are bumming me out, with the latest example being the “Betatrophin” Diabetes paper from Harvard last year. Yesterday it was called into major doubt by a new Cell paper from a group led by Jesper Gromada at Regeneron. The authors of the original 2013 Betatrophin paper–Doug Melton’s team at Harvard– indicated …
The Betatrophin Blues after Harvard Diabetes pub Read More »
There has been considerable discussion about the whether the media hyped the recent Harvard stem cells for diabetes paper (see top 10 takeaways of that paper). I believe that this was greatly hyped. This Harvard publication reported production of insulin-secreting cells from human embryonic stem cells (hESC). Newspapers around the world widely exaggerated the potential impact …
Stem cells for Diabetes: the danger of the word ‘cure’ Read More »