One of the most important elements of science is critical reading of papers. Most of us come into science as undergrads feeling somewhat naive about what we read in papers. Our default tendency is to believe most or all that we read as “true”. As we get more experienced, we realize that in fact if […]
Critically reading science papers: response to patient on MS stem cell literature Read More »
Writing this blog I hear a lot of stuff about stem cells all across the globe. Some of this is noise, but some is signal (i.e. real). What seems to be a very real and worrisome trend is that unlicensed for-profit treatments in the Philippines have exploded in the last two years. I would characterize
From Russia with love or…stem cells? Read More »
Every year I give out a number of awards (See 2010 and 2011 awards here). I usually do them all in one post, but this year I’m doing them mostly in separate posts. This is the first post for 2012 awards and this is for Stem Cell Journal of the Year 2012. Some brief background is in order. Last
Stem cell journal of the year 2012: Cell Stem Cell Read More »
One of the most exciting types of stem cells are mesenchymal stem cells or MSCs. Although there is some debate about these cells (e.g. I once heard Irv Weissman say at a meeting he wasn’t sure they really existed as such), a consensus would seem to be that they have great potential medical potential. Perhaps
Mapping global trends in MSC & stem cell clinical trials: unexpected findings Read More »
I recently did a text mining of all the article titles for Cell Stem Cell for 2012. The results were very insightful (expressed in a beautiful word cloud) for the journal and what are the top areas of focus of authors publishing there. I just did the same analysis for the journal Stem Cells and
Text mining journal Stem Cells: intriguing comparison to Cell Stem Cell Read More »
Cell Stem Cell was the winner of my 2011 best stem cell journal award (see 2011 awards here, 2012 awards will be announced in early January). As I’ve “complained” in the past, the only thing I wish would be different is they’d publish even more articles per issue or per month! But what exactly does Cell
Text mining Cell Stem Cell: surprising insights into the journal Read More »
The Texas stem cell clinic, Celltex, is lately becoming a model of transparency in the biotech industry. They are willing to answer many (if not all) questions I’ve been asking them. Celltex is involved in stem cell isolation and multiplication, and banking (see post here on the pros and cons of stem cell banking) as
Interesting new insights into Celltex’s business model Read More »
Where do things stand on the potential of stem cell treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS)? MS is an often devastating autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks its own nervous system. More info can be found at the National MS website here. MS is a very serious health problem globally as about 400,000 people
Stem cell treatments for multiple sclerosis: where do things stand? Read More »
I’m enjoying Celltex’s new website and I’m appreciative of their great responsiveness to my questions. Transparency is a beautiful thing! My latest question to them was whether they, given that the FDA called them a “drug manufacturer”, are now planning to or have already filed an IND. An IND is an application for an investigational
More Celltex Q&A: we are not a drug manufacturer Read More »
Can stem cells treat the different forms of arthritis that plague 100s of millions of people across the globe? A couple years back I did a post in my disease focus series on the potential of stem cells to be used as treatments for osteoarthritis (OA). OA affects almost 30 million people in the U.S.
Stem cells for arthritis: are we there yet? Read More »