A team at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel led by Jacob Hanna reports today near perfect reprogramming efficiency to make induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by eliminating a single factor called Mbd3 from the cellular equation. On first glance, the Nature article (Rais, et al.) seems to be all about boosting cellular reprogramming efficiency to close […]
100% reprogramming efficiency reports Jacob Hanna Read More »
Need a new liver, pancreas, or other vital organ, then I’ll 3D print one right up for you…that is in about 10 years. My intern Lakshmi did a great job on her guest piece last week on the promise of 3D printing in stem cell-based bioengineering including organ and tissue production. It’s an incredibly exciting area of
Want to 3D Print Yourself a New Organ? Key Challenges Read More »
Let’s putting on our “thinking caps”….er, extra brains, get our geek on, and have some fun imagining where stem cell technology may lead us in the coming century. Unhappy with the one brain you have? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a 2nd one too? A new one? Researchers have grown mini brain-like structures from
What would you do with an extra brain? Read More »
Was Einstein wrong on his definition of insanity? “Insanity”, said Einstein, “is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” But in science, how sane is it to expect experiments to give precisely the same results? How big a problem is irreproducibility in science? Experiments on that question have given variable
Was Einstein Wrong About Insanity? Read More »
What’s the deal with IntelliCell Biosciences, headed up by Dr. Steven Victor? Sometimes science can move at warp speed and that is even more true of the stem cell field. One stem cell establishment that seems to be in a particularly intense period of activity and that has drawn a great deal of attention lately
Interview with Dr. Steven Victor of IntelliCell Biosciences (SVFC) Read More »
IntelliCell BioSciences, Inc. of New York, a clinical stem cell establishment, has had a rough time of it lately. For example, a recent piece of bad news is that there is an impending foreclosure sale of the company’s assets. What exactly that means for the company more broadly remains unknown, but a few people tell me (take this
New FDA IntelliCell BioSciences, Audit Report: A Lot of Work to Do Read More »
What is the deal with the crazy hullaballoo over the so-called stem cell test tube burger? On the surface, this pseudo-burger sounds kinda cool in a geeky, comic book kind of way, but when I dug just a little deeper, it turns out I’m left asking: where’s the beef? After the burger was mentioned briefly on
Where’s the Beef? Reality Check on Test Tube Burger Baloney Read More »
This is the fourth post in a series I’m doing on an FOIA release of letters between Texas stem cell clinic Celltex and the FDA. The first three posts, which include helpful background and discussion of other FOIA material from Celltex, can be found here, here, and here. Today’s post is focused on a newly
Celltex FDA FOIA Letter #3 Raises Key New Questions Read More »
Over at Health in the Global Village, Leigh Turner yesterday published an excellent piece updating us all on the latest news on Korean stem cell company RNL BIo (알앤엘바이오) and its leader, Dr. Jeong Chan Ra (라정찬 ). Addition: The story was reported in several Korean news outlets including Hani here. A video here by MBC News of Korea, one
Jeong Chan Ra Arrest: Can RNL Bio (알앤엘바이오) Survive? Read More »
In a rare sign of stem cell international regulatory unity, the Japanese Health Ministry (厚生労働省) and the US FDA have agreed to develop a joint, unified regulatory framework for clinical studies of human iPS cells for use in treating retinal diseases. Presumably the rules would also guide clinical use of iPS cells to treat other
FDA & Japanese Health Ministry (厚生労働省) To Develop iPS cell clinical rules Read More »