In some ways it’s hard to imagine that it was only just over 6 months ago that Nature published the two STAP papers by a collaborative team of Japanese and American researchers. It feels like years have gone by since then because so much has happened related to the STAP mess including the retraction of […]
Where does STAP cell mess go from here & key unanswered questions Read More »
Today has been a dark day of mourning for science following the death by suicide of Dr. Yoshiki Sasai. I did not know Dr. Sasai personally, but was very impressed with his work. His suicide leaves me feeling very sad and it seems like an appropriate time for reflection. (update I did a post on suicides by
Reflecting on Sasai tragedy, STAP, & flawed field of science Read More »
Many of this The Niche‘s readers ask about what my own lab’s research. What is the focus of the research of the Knoepfler Lab? You can go check out our lab website, but I thought it might be time to blog about what we are all about as a lab and what we have been
Knoepfler Lab: Our mission and research Read More »
Stem cell-based Regenerative Medicine has huge power for good in the clinic and at the same time great potential for economic development. Those two things go hand in hand. As I argued in my stem cell book, biotech commercialization of stem cells is not a bad thing, but rather if it is done responsibly it
Reflecting on Regenerative Medicine As A Brand Read More »
The Obokata STAP cell papers in Nature were retracted today. It feels like it’s been a long time coming in one way as for months now it has felt like retraction was inevitable, but it’s been extraordinarily fast in another way as retractions almost never happen this fast. It’s a day of mixed feelings. This
Perspectives on STAP cell Nature paper retractions Read More »
What is the Vacanti Mouse? Comedian John Oliver has an absolutely blistering segment (see below) on Dr. Oz in which he skewers the physician huckster. The video includes incredibly telling Oz testimony before Congress in which the celebrity doctor seems frankly pretty pathetic and cannot answer even simple questions about his selling of arguably snake oil on
Ear-itating: Awesome John Oliver Invokes Vacanti Mouse While Blistering Dr. Oz Read More »
What were people saying about STAP cells at the ISSCR 2014 meeting? It was a tale of two meetings when it came to STAP at ISSCR. Officially, bigwigs at the podiums only briefly mentioned it and they seemed to collectively argue that STAP was something unfortunate, but that the bigger danger was the overreaction to
STAP Cell Chatter From ISSCR Meeting Read More »
Now that it appears that the authors have all consented to eventually have both of their STAP cell Nature papers retracted, what’s next for STAP? Who knows, but below is my attempt at a top 10 list of STAP predictions looking ahead. I hope I’m wrong about several of them. 10. No insight will come
STAP cell predictions Read More »
Working together with ISSCR, last week I held a short essay contest for a free registration to ISSCR 2014 in Vancouver. I received some great entries so it was a challenge to pick just one, but the winning piece was written by student Mohamed Gatie. Congratulations to Mohamed. I hope to meet him in the Vancouver
Winning Essay for ISSCR 2014 Registration Read More »
Japanese news media are reporting that Haruko Obokata and other key authors have agreed to retract the Nature STAP cell letter, but not the Nature article. This is a major development and a peculiar one because to many in the field it is the Nature STAP cell article that is the more flawed of the two Nature papers on STAP. Why would
Obokata OKs Retraction of Nature STAP Cell Letter, Not Article Read More »