It’s been exciting to watch the recent developments in using stem cells as the basis for treatments for Type I Diabetes. One of the major players in this arena is the privately-held company, ViaCyte. In this post, I interview ViaCyte President and CEO, Paul Laikind. The topics include their VC-01 product, the Encaptra device, an update on …
ViaCyte CEO Laikind Interview: Trial Update, Melton, & Future Read More »
The Texas stem cell clinic Celltex was one of the most controversial businesses in the world of stem cells in 2012 and 2013 (see here for background and as an update see this new post on how the Texas clinic has teamed up with a local university). The FDA essentially shut down the Celltex clinical …
Arthritis Foundation Sell Out To Stem Cell Clinic Celltex? Read More »
What’s Cambrian Genomics? With rapid advances in genomics, gene editing, and methods to reproduce life in the lab such as cloning, today creating genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has never been easier. While there have been of course loads of discussions of GMOs in the past, we are entering a new era of what one might …
Austen Heinz of Cambrian Genomics Interview: GMO creatures & people Read More »
NBC News did a big on-line story and even a NBC Nightly News Segment on dubious stem cell therapies on Friday. Normally a national news story on the problem of the mushrooming stem cell clinics selling unapproved “treatments” would be a positive development, but this otherwise very nicely done story might have a major error that could confuse millions …
Did NBC News Err On Key Part of Their Stem Cell Report? Read More »
Change is in the air for the California stem cell agency, CIRM. It has a new President, Randy Mills, and CIRM is soon going to be like a new agency too. I recently did an interview with Mills that illuminates some of the big changes that are imminent. I also asked him what his favorite …
Radical Vision for CIRM Future: Interview with New Prez Mills Read More »
The list of stem cell journals seems to grow longer every day. In fact, the list is so long and some of the names kind of funny that it inspires coming up with a slew of satirical and nonsensical stem cell journals. I’m betting that some of these (the ones listed first) may be thought up …
The stem cell biotech Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) reported new, positive data in a paper in Lancet from their clinical trials using retinal pigmented epithelial cells (RPEs) made from human embryonic stem cells (hESC) for treatment of different forms of macular degeneration (MD). The paper was entitled “Human embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelium in patients with age-related …
Advanced Cell Technology pub: Trial for Macular Degeneration Read More »
StemCells Inc. is a top biotech company developing stem cell-based therapies. They have a deep pipeline that includes already ongoing trials for a variety of diseases. I invited company leadership to do an interview and they graciously accepted. Below is the interview with CFO Greg Schiffman (picture at left from LinkedIn) including what I thought …
Interview with StemCells Inc. leadership on hot topics Read More »
In the interview below I talk with Dr. Masayo Takahashi, who is leading a team conducting the first ever in-human clinical study based on iPS cells. The work began with patient enrollment on Aug. 1, 2013 in Japan. Masaya Takahashi background 1. Can you tell us a bit about your background? As an M.D./Ph.D. and …
Masayo Takahashi Interview on iPS cells, clinical studies, & more Read More »
Below is an excerpt focused on Alzheimer’s Disease from my new book on stem cells. Stem Cells: An Insider’s Guide, which is targeted to a broad audience of people interested in stem cells. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the most devastating illnesses. It destroys the brain, which shrinks over time (see image from Wikipedia …
Book Excerpt: Stem Cells for Alzheimer’s Disease–Are We There yet? Read More »