Next month there is going to be a new stem cell meeting taking place. The 1st Annual Houston Stem Cell Summit. The primary sponsor is Celltex. I’d encourage everyone to go, but I’m not so sure it’d be worth it. Why? I’m always glad to see another stem cell meeting and this one is surely unique in …
Houston stem cell meeting lacks diversity & risks falling to groupthink Read More »
Stem cell cosmetics is an exploding area ranging from facial creams (e.g. from L’Oreal and its Lancome) to face lifts to boob jobs to baldness treatments (see two key posts here and here for background and great stories). The stem cell cosmetics field has not been held back by issues such as the fact that …
L’Oreal Lancome gets hammered by FDA, why kid gloves for clinics? Read More »
I think the number of main stream media articles on stem cells that are dumb is increasing…some weeks it’s hard to choose which is the dumbest in fact. This week it is not so hard to pick. The Daily Mail has an epic fail piece on a British company’s dubious stem cell treatment for wrinkles …
Dumb stem cell article of the week goes to the Daily Mail on stem cell cosmetics Read More »
For years now we’ve had a war in the world of stem cells. The war has been primarily centered on embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). The reason I call it a “war” is that opponents of ESCR have declared a “culture war” on ESCR and ESC researchers. I don’t like the term “war”, but if …
Update on stem cell culture war: from Pepsi to Personhood & Romney to rogue clinics Read More »
I’ve been in the stem cell field for a long time. I’ve seen a lot of wild, unexpected, even crazy things. Running this blog is a big reason. However, I have never seen anything like the wild video (see below) with a sock puppet (manned by comedienne Cheryl Ling) erupting with a profanity-laced tirade about stem …
The fields of science related to DNA have for a long time been gene-centric. By this I mean that most scientists working in these areas have focused their attention and their efforts on the genes that make the proteins and RNAs that are the workers of the cell. What’s left over that wasn’t genes mainly …
The stem cell world is getting more complicated. There are more good guys and bad guys out there than ever. In the Old West, at least as portrayed in the old movies I used to watch as a kid, the bad guy often had a black hat and the good guy a white hat. In …
Who’s who? How to tell the stem cell good guys from the bad guys Read More »
There has been a lot of attention about a Sutter clinical trial to use adult stem cells for the treatment of autism. I did a post on it here. After more reading, I’m scratching my head even more about the hypothesis at the heart of that trial, but I’m no autism expert. Emily Willingham, who knows …
I watched some parts of the big speeches at this year’s Republican Convention in Tampa and was struck by a number of things running the gamut from good to bad to ugly. I think Mrs. Romney did a good job on her speech. She came across as likable and someone I can imagine as a …
The good, the bad, and the ugly of the Republican Convention Read More »
The notion of caloric restriction (CR) as a means to prolong human life is intriguing. The basic idea of CR is that if you eat a lot less than the average person you’ll live longer. You might even live a higher quality, healthier life. But is this true? (update: see my newer post on 5 …
Caloric restriction: dieting monkeys teach human scientists? Read More »