The Vegas trial of Dr. Ralph Conti, accused of dangerous stem cell fraud, is going on and reportedly some of the testimony is astonishing in terms of the attitudes of point-of-care, for profit stem cell clinic disregard for their patients. The doctor is quoted that in terms of the stem cell treatments of human patients […]
The field of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) has really shaken up science over the last half dozen years reversing our notion that differentiated cells are stuck in that fate, when in reality they are plastic and can “turn back the clock” to become embryonic stem cell-like cells. Now we have an iPSC paper in Nature,
Surprising human mosaicism means not all your cells have the same DNA Read More »
Much earlier this year I did a poll and published my own thoughts on the top 10 stem cell journals. Topping my list was Cell Stem Cell at #1 and Stem Cells at #2. I also recently did text mining on the titles of articles in these 2 journals (here and here) finding some fascinating similarities
Top Stem Cell Journals list for 2013: some surprises Read More »
When biotech Geron punted on its embryonic stem cell (ESC) program despite having an ongoing FDA-approved clinical trial for spinal cord injury and tens of millions in loan funding from CIRM, many in the stem cell field were upset to put it mildly. Geron repaid the CIRM loan with interest. At the time, the general
CIRM comment on prospect of BioTime buying Geron stem cell program Read More »
I’m doing a series of posts on straightforward reasons why patients should not get unlicensed stem cell treatments. Part 1 of the series was on the risk of losing medical insurance coverage. Today is part 2, which is focused on a serious failing of many for-profit, point-of-care stem cell clinics selling unlicensed treatments: lack of
8 simple reasons not to get an unlicensed stem cell treatment part 2: lack of follow-up Read More »
Over the years I’ve given out yearly awards on this blog for various achievements (good or not so good) in the stem cell field for specific years. See 2010 and 2011 awards here. This year the Knoepfler Lab 2012 Awards are going to be the most exciting ever. I’m going to give out some of
One of the big issues related to using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells is cost. To make iPS cells from each patient for subsequent stem cell-based treatment would cost a fortune, by some estimates $200,000 or more per patient if done one-by-one. It could easily end up not being covered by insurances companies and Medicare,
Yamanaka on making iPS cells from each patient: ‘in reality, we cannot do that’ Read More »
Patients ask me all the time about stem cell treatments. Some are curious. Some have already had treatments. Others are very seriously considering a treatment, but haven’t done so yet. Some are open-minded. Some are not. Some are angry with me for my track record of criticizing for-profit, unlicensed clinics offering stem cell treatments. In
Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. is a publicly traded (NASDAQ) biotech Israeli company that is developing stem cell treatments based on the use of expanded placental stem cells called PLX cells. The Pluristem PLX drug is not approved for treating patients at this time in any country, however Pluristem has treated a handful of patients via something
Money and stem cell ‘miracles’: Pluristem questioned on ethics Read More »
I recently did a text mining of all the article titles for Cell Stem Cell for 2012. The results were very insightful (expressed in a beautiful word cloud) for the journal and what are the top areas of focus of authors publishing there. I just did the same analysis for the journal Stem Cells and
Text mining journal Stem Cells: intriguing comparison to Cell Stem Cell Read More »