With all the excitement over the potential of stem cells to transform medicine, a key bottleneck is physician training. Just how many doctors in the entire US have years of real experience and training in clinical use of stem cells….hmmm, let’s see….I can only think of a few in the whole country. Yes, it’s really […]
Crash course stem cell training for docs puts patients at risk Read More »
Baldness can teach us something about blogging? You might be surprised! My mission with this blog is to responsibly use its influence for good for educational outreach to help people learn about stem cells. Can this blog make a difference? Does it have any influence? It seems so. Blogging is a lot more powerful than
Baldness points to big positive power of blogs Read More »
Will intellectual property (IP) wars over patent rights to one of the most exciting new stem cell technologies hold back getting novel therapies to patients such as IPS cells? Unfortunately, it’s very possible. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are very cool stem cells made from non-stem cells through a process called cellular reprogramming. iPS cells
Putting the IP in iPS cells: patent war looming? Read More »
Over at ScienceBlogs, Orac has put up an excellent post on the disturbing stem cell situation in Italy. This is a great, probing piece and I highly recommend it, but there’s more going on there too that is worth taking a look at including social media stuff. One of the other intriguing things about this
Stem cell clinic social media shenanigans exposed Read More »
What is up with the stem cell company, Precision StemCell, these days? I can’t imagine they are exactly celebrating after having been reported to the FDA. They also have apparently moved operations from the US to Colombia at some point recently. What’s the deal here? First, a little background is helpful. In 2012, University of
Leigh Turner Reports Company Precision StemCell To FDA Read More »
Just how good are today’s iPS cells? Are they essentially functionally the same as ES cells? Take our polls below to let us know your thoughts.
Polls on key iPS cell attributes: epigenetics, memory, mutations, immune issues Read More »
UPDATE: Unfortunately the Betatrophin paper discussed here originally back in 2013 has now largely been proven to have come to incorrect conclusions (for more read this). Today Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) reported the discovery, in a paper in Cell by Harvard Professor Doug Melton, of a powerful new hormone called Betatrophin that can stimulate
Doug Melton Betatrophin Discovery Points to Future Diabetes Treatment? Read More »
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) is making a big announcement today about stems, the biggest they say in their almost decade-long existence. Last night I speculated/predicted some possible announcements. Today I’m betting they will announce the discovery of a novel factor called Betatrophin. More on Betatrophin in a minute, but first why do I think
What is Betatrophin & why is Harvard so excited about it? Read More »
I’m still trying to figure out the best way to do a webchat on WordPress so I appreciate your patience. I apologize, but at this time the WordPress WebChat requires that you go here and register as a user of my website to participate. It’s relatively painless though and quick: for future chats I hope to
Today’s live stem cell web chat 1PM PDT: how to participate Read More »
I’ve written in the past (see here, here, and parody here on HuffPost) about how stem cell sports medicine is a dangerous thing. It continues to grow in popularity. There’s a new piece out now saying that Ultimate Fight Championship President Dana White went on a stem cell tourism trip to Germany for a treatment
Snake oil stem cell sports medicine: A-Rod, Kobe, Dana White Read More »