Search Results for: humor

Funny autocorrect fails in STEM: the gremlin organdy fiasco

Germline gremlins, funny autocorrect fails

Today’s post is on the lighter side with some humor on funny autocorrect fails related to science. It’s surprising sometimes how far certain tools can lag behind cutting-edge science. Spellcheck tools are useful, of course, but they don’t always know what to do with STEM words. The same is true of tools like Grammarly, although it …

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Tributes to NYSCF leader & stem cell advocate Susan Solomon

Susan-Solomon

It was a shock to learn today that New York Stem Cell Foundation CEO and Co-Founder Susan Solomon had passed away yesterday after a long battle with ovarian cancer. I met Susan a few times over the years and was always struck by her positive energy. At a practical level she got big things done …

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Clade Therapeutics pursues universal cells for cancer therapy

Chad-Cowan CRISPR Therapeutics

Clade  Therapeutics has been pursuing the idea of using gene-editing to make universally compatible cells. The potential here is big. What if you could make cloaked stem cells that could be used to produce cellular therapies that could be given to most patients without fear of immune rejection? Clade Therapeutics Boston Business Journal covers the …

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Tribute to pioneering stem cell scientist Meri Firpo

Tenneille Ludwig, Meri Firpo, and Rosario Isasi at a stem cell meeting (l-r).

Last week we lost Meri Firpo, a great scientist and dear friend in the stem cell community who touched many lives in positive ways. Today’s post is a tribute to Meri, who passed away from breast cancer. If you want to add a tribute please add a comment. Meri Firpo short bio Meri received her …

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Weekly reads: badgers, organoids, The Onion, & more

A badger in Yellowstone Park. Photo Paul Knoepfler. Could you make organoids from one?

It’s been a little quiet here on The Niche for the past week as I was off in Yellowstone National Park, but I’m back with this week’s recommended weekly reads including a section on organoids. First, I want to share a nature pic from the trip. A highlight was encountering a badger in Lamar Valley …

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Fact-checking stem cell face cream: less than face value

Stem cell face cream. Taking a humorous look at what these might do.

I remember the first time I ran across an ad for a stem cell face cream and it wasn’t pretty. This was about 10 years ago. The stem cell cream in question made several claims that seemed highly doubtful. In a sense what the cream’s maker was selling was the idea of stem cell-based youth …

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Prop 14 polling on CIRM re-funding stays moderately upbeat

CIRM-funding-Proposition-14-polling_sm

The State of California is considering re-funding its stem cell agency, CIRM, to the tune of more than $5 billion dollars, but the issue has generated surprisingly little media attention. The main coverage has been by David Jensen over at California Stem Cell Report. Prop 14 polling data non-existent in public domain To my knowledge, …

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Patients stem cell Q&A#1: can clinic injections cause GVHD?

Colonic_graft-versus-host_disease-GVHD

People ask me questions about stem cells all the time so I decide to do a new blog series answering your questions. Today’s post is  the first in this new stem cell Q&A series. Past series have included my Elephant in the Lab series that provides some insights into the craziness that sometimes goes on …

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The big picture lab meeting: ethics, careers, publishing & other questions

elephant-in-the-lab

About once each year or two, I try to schedule what I call a “big picture” lab meeting where my lab and I discuss major issues related to being a scientist. Also, I try to answer their questions about just about anything. In my lab we rotate between various lab meeting formats and also have …

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