One of the biggest claims related to stem cells and in particular to induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSC or IPS cells) of 2015 came just yesterday about growing a human fetal brain. A press release from Ohio State University reports that two of its researchers had grown a nearly full-formed human fetal brain. My initial reaction …
Healthy skepticism needed on claim of stem cell-derived human fetal brain Read More »
You probably have heard by now about the controversial video (below) showing the senior director of medical services of Planned Parenthood, Deborah Nucatola, discussing the procurement and distribution of fetal tissues from abortions for research. The film was taken secretly using a hidden camera by anti-abortion activists who concealed their real identities. It was edited …
Perspectives on Planned Parenthood Fetal Tissue Video Read More »
So many things go wrong during the lead up to clinically-evident Alzheimer’s disease. This complex disease pathway has, in turn, led to a vast array of approaches to try to treat or prevent Alzheimer’s. Most of these efforts one way or another have something to do with the amyloid plaques and tangles that accumulate in the …
To get at addressing what’s the real deal on the idea of cellular therapies for COVID-19, I did a short email Q&A interview with Dr. Sean Morrison. Sean is Chair of the Public Policy Committee at ISSCR and Director of Children’s Research Institute at UT Southwestern. He was also President of ISSCR in 2015-2016, and …
Interview with Sean Morrison on cellular therapies for COVID-19 Read More »
Things are getting worse with the COVID19 pandemic and in parallel there is increasing hype including from clinics that somehow stem cells or similar products could help with the latest (and most worrisome) development being a bombshell tweet from Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The former mayor of New York and Trump frontman just tweeted this …
Rudy Giuliani now plugging unproven stem cells for COVID19: is Trump next? Read More »
We here in California have been fortunate to have our own stem cell and regenerative medicine agency called CIRM, standing for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. How much has CIRM helped the California economy and has it had broader economic impacts outside of California? How will that impact its future? CIRM has been around …
Stem cell cha-ching! CIRM has economic impact in billions, 56K+ jobs Read More »
Each year I make a list of stem cell predictions for the following year and I’ll release my predictions for 2019 soon, but first I’m grading how my 20 predictions for 2018 turned out. It seems I did better than usual predicting what would happen this year. I only got a couple partial credit or …
Good final grades on my 20 x 2018 stem cell predictions Read More »
Each year I make a list of predictions for the year to come for the stem cell and regenerative medicine field. Then about a year later I grade myself on how I did as that year winds down. Here’s how I did in 2016. For 2017, late in 2016 I made 20 stem cell predictions. Let’s …
In December of each year I make a list of stem cell predictions for the coming year, and I made 20 such predictions for 2017 so I’m wondering how I’m doing so far on these now that it’s June. Below is my work-in-progress scorecard for these so far. Positive news from Asterias on trial for stem cell-based …
2017 stem cell predictions: score card at 1/2-way point Read More »
Each year I make a list of predictions for the stem cell and regenerative medicine field for the coming new year. Later in this post I list my top 20 stem cell predictions for 2017. In looking at my past predictions I realized this will now be my 7th year doing stem cell/regenerative medicine yearly predictions. …