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 pieces on my radar screen to read in my ample spare time as I work the weekend on literally 5 different grants include these pieces: NECSS and SfSBM: A weekend of science and skepticism Breaking Down Fat: Trends in adipose cell-based clinical trials PubPeer Selections: Odd citations, “practice makes perfect,” a Nature update Right Turn: …
On Monday, I’ll be doing another Reddit AMA, this time on 3-person IVF also known as 3-parent IVF, mitochondrial transfer, 3-parent babies, etc. You can see the upcoming AMAs including mine listed in the right sidebar here. Mine will start at 10AM PST/1PM EST. I hope to discuss with a wide audience all the key …
Monday, March 2: My Reddit AMA on 3-Person IVF – Mitochondrial Transfer Read More »
Here’s some thought-provoking weekend reading. ALEXEY. CLINICAL CELL PROCESSING NEWS – PART 1, 2015 BIOPOLITICAL TIMES. MITOCHONDRIAL MISSION CREEP AND THE CLONING CONNECTION CALIFORNIA STEM CELL REPORT. CALIFORNIA’S BOB KLEIN PROPOSES $100 BILLION, INTERNATIONAL STEM CELL/GENOMICS VENTURE CARL ZIMMER. A NEW THEORY ON HOW NEANDERTHAL DNA SPREAD IN ASIA DN LEE. YOU SHOULD KNOW: MICHELLE HUNTER AND EXPLORING NEUROSCIENCE THROUGH …
The still mysterious BioGatekeeper had challenged Yamanaka’s IPS cell patent claiming that it was obvious. The potential implications were huge given the commercial interest in translating IPS cell technology. For background see here, here, and here. There’s pretty much zero information on BioGatekeeper otherwise. Despite the potential seriousness of this patent challenge, just a few days …
Challenge of Yamanaka Patent by BioGatekeeper Fails Read More »
Remember that old TV show the Odd Couple with very proper Felix Unger and his polar opposite Oscar Madison who has all kinds of baggage? They’ve cloned it into a remake to be on TV soon here in the US in 2015. It seems only fitting then that actual human cloning research has a new …
The Odd Couple of Cloning Research: Mitalipov & Woo Suk Hwang Unite Read More »
There was a time I used to watch Countdown with Keith Olbermann on a regular basis and for a few years, I really enjoyed it. After a while I kind of lost interest. Today Olbermann does a sports show on ESPN and it’s just not the same. He also seems like he’s not the same …
What’s the deal with the tension between José Silva and Jacob Hanna over pluripotency? Researchers probing how to reprogram cells into powerful stem cells (induced pluripotent stem cells or IPSCs) and what the molecular mechanisms are behind this process have become entangled in a conflict. Of course over the years scientists including stem cell scientists have …
Silva Comments on MBD3/NuRD Debate with Jacob Hanna Read More »
In what NIH describes as “outside-the-box” thinking, an MIT team led by Edward Boyden has found a way to use a diaper ingredient to transform microscopy including brain imaging. This is cool stuff. Boyden’s group found that the super-absorbent diaper compound sodium polyacrylate, can be used in a very novel way for microscopy. For any who have …
This is your brain on diapers: new mindbogglingly cool imaging trick Read More »
Garrison Keillor’s NPR show A Prairie Home Companion would sometimes report from a small fictional town call Lake Wobegon. Frankly, I found that show really boring, but I always chuckled when I heard this line: “Well, that’s the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and …
The Lake Wobegon Effect in Science: Where Every Paper is Above Average Read More »