When I was first really getting into stem cells as a trainee the name Catherine Verfaillie came up as a scientist to watch in the adult stem cell area. It wasn’t too long after that though that I started hearing that some of the work from her lab at the University of Minnesota was being […]
Recommended reads: Nature Catherine Verfaillie retraction, Horvath paper, Vertex Read More »
Stem cell clinic firm US Stem Cell has just had a major paper retracted. Two of the notable authors on that paper are US Stem Cell leader Kristin Comella and stem cell researcher Thomas Ichim, who was senior author. It’s not clear to me if Comella currently has a role in the firm or not.
Stem cell clinic US Stem Cell has key paper retracted Read More »
This week we have some interesting new reading including both on the stem cell basic and translational fronts as well as on COVID-19 vaccines. COVID-19 vaccine considerations From Derek Lowe at In The Pipeline on COVID-19 vaccine expectations at Science Translational Medicine, Get Ready for False Side Effects. You can read my views on possible
Recommended stem cell reads: retractions, aging, COVID, CRISPR soldiers Read More »
Something very strange just happened at the journal Nature related to what’s called Muse cells. Kudos to them for dealing with it quickly though. They published an unreviewed research “article” on controversial (perhaps non-existent) stem cells called “Muse cells” that was actually a paid advertisement. After I communicated with the Nature team eventually they ended up
Nature yanks article that was actually advertisement on controversial stem cells Read More »
Remember when the Piero Anversa situation first made news or at least when you first heard about it? In the public domain, it was back around April 2014. I didn’t even do a whole post on it, but rather it made two bullet points in a post about a set of bad overall news including the latest
Anversa debacle vs. STAP cell train wreck & what’s next Read More »
In a stunner, Harvard and Brigham & Women’s Hospital reportedly have jointly called for the retraction of 31 papers on heart stem cell research authored by embattled heart stem cell researcher Piero Anversa. The scoop on this by STAT/Retraction Watch written by Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus gives further details on this mess and past
Call for 31 Anversa retractions by Harvard; heart stem cell concept broken? Read More »
The fast-moving stem cell field has enjoyed remarkable progress in the past 10 years despite some issues such as instances of stem cell paper retraction. This “modern” stem cell era that includes induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSC) has been striking for progress despite some challenges such as issues with publications. As a maturing field it is important
Higher apparent stem cell paper retraction rates versus cancer papers Read More »
Over at RetractionWatch, their team does a great job following retractions of science papers. Sadly, the number of published manuscript retractions gives them more than enough material to post several times a day. There’s another phenomenon going on that I think might warrant their increased attention: the possibly rising number of retractions or corrections of science
Science press releases behaving badly: time to start tracking their retractions? Read More »
Just how often do press releases (PR) get science wrong? A new paper came out from the lab of Matthias Lutolf in Nature Materials that seems interesting. Using a special matrix, reprogramming of cells reportedly worked better. Good stuff. However, a (PR) from the home institution of EPFL and media pick up on the story used
Squeeze PR on stem cell paper evokes STAP cell bad vibrations, gets corrected Read More »
The last two years at Nature Magazine have seen a surprising wave of paper retractions. In 2013 and now just so far in 2014, Nature has retracted a total of 14 papers. How unusual is that? Historically, Nature retracts relatively few papers, perhaps just under two per year on average. What the heck has been going on in 2013-2014? Let’s break it
Could Nature’s 2-year torrent of paper retractions be a good thing? Read More »