Please note that this is one of the only instances in the history of this blog that I have retroactively edited a post for what I believe was an error on my part related to what I feel was overly extreme verbiage. I have also subsequently been informed confidentially of more of the facts of …
Texas Guv Perry visits human embryonic stem cell lab at Scripps Institute Read More »
Some scientists do really rotten things, a topic I’m exploring in a seven part series on what I call scientific sinning. I started my series on the sins of scientists a few weeks ago with a piece called “Failure to Cite”. “Failure to cite” refers to the practice whereby some scientists choose not to cite the papers …
Seven sins of scientists part 3: a need for speed Read More »
The era of privacy is over. People are saying this so often lately that is almost cliche, but I’m starting to believe it is true. My recent experience is illustrative and it has convinced me that privacy is indeed almost a quaint anachronism. The main instrument in the death of privacy is the Internet. For …
Stem cell-based regenerative medicine has the potential to help treat not only humans with injuries or illness, but also veterinary patients such as dogs and horses. Is it also possible that stem cell technology could prevent extinction of endangered species? A recent paper suggests this may be the case. The paper in question by a …
iPS cells and endangered species: a recipe to avoid extinction? Read More »
It’s been more than 4 years since Shinya Yamanaka published the remarkable finding that his lab could transform or “reprogram” regular cells called fibroblasts into a very unique state that was quite similar to that of embryonic stem cells (ESC). Yamanaka called these new cells “iPS cells” for induced pluripotent stem cells. Since that time, …
Yesterday I wrote about how difficult it is to tell different cell lines apart, including normal stem cells and cancer stem cells, especially since some accumulate accumulate oncogenic mutations that may make them seem more similar. A new paper is coming out that makes this case on a genomic level. Tomorrow’s Cell Stem Cell edition …
Devil in the details: small oncogenic lesions in iPS cells & ESC Read More »
Cancer is a class of diseases that are intimately linked to stem cells. In fact, I would go so far as to call some types of cancer cells and stem cells, cousins. This concept, of a tight relationship between stem and cancer cells, is under intense investigation but at the same time it is something …
Update in 2020: Wow, a lot has changed since this post almost 10 years ago, but Cell Stem Cell remains the main publisher of IPS cell articles still. The young iPSC field has published a truly massive number of papers in just 4 years. Searching ISI Web of Knowledge for papers with titles reflecting iPSC …
Striking iPS cell research publishing trends: what do they mean? Read More »