Was sind Stammzellen? Der menschliche Körper enthält Hunderte von verschiedenen Zellarten, die für unsere tägliche Gesundheit wichtig sind. Diese Zellen sind verantwortlich für das tägliche Funktionieren unseres Körpers, wie das Schlagen des Herzes, das Denken des Gehirns, das Säubern unseres Blut durch die Nieren, das Ersetzen unsere Hautzellen, und so weiter. Die wichtige und einzigartige …
Davis, CA and UC Davis are very unique. We were driving down to a favorite hiking spot, Putah Creek this past weekend, and noticed a sign along the way. It dawned on me just wildly unusual this sign we always drive by really is if you think about it (see at right). I think Davis, …
I’ve been fortunate to interview some of the greats in the stem cell field for this blog and host debates between key players. Please note that just because I have interviewed folks does not mean I agree with them or that they agree with me. The point is to establish dialogue on key issues. As …
Today is part of 4 (the last) of my interview with Dr. Arnold Caplan, MSC godfather and guru. You can read parts 1-3 of the interview here, here, and here. In this post I focus on my discussion with Caplan on translation of stem cells to patients and the FDA. During our conversation we talked about some …
Interview with Arnold Caplan, Part 4: the FDA and the Future Read More »
CIRM recently held an “elevator pitch” (also sometimes known as an “elevator speech”) contest amongst its grantees. The San Francisco Chronicle even covered this contest (and also here). Kevin McCormack, Sr. Director of Public Communications and Patient Advocate Outreach at CIRM, described the contest in, appropriately enough, a speech. As best as I can tell 56 scientists participated. By way …
I recently interview Arnold Caplan, the father of the MSC field, and published part 1 of the interview (you can read it here). Today in part 2 we cover more topics of great importance related to MSCs including propagation, placebos, and patients as well as publishing. A hot topic in the stem cell world more …
CIRM has indicated that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended that CIRM provide funding for training and research on ethics and regulatory issues. In response to this recommendation and with the perspectives of various “CIRM funded researchers and other experts”, CIRM has responded with a new ethics & regulatory recommendation document. I have read it …
CIRM Ethics & Regulatory Steps: highly responsive to IOM Read More »
A few days ago I had a long, very enjoyable phone conversation with the father of the mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) field, Dr. Arnold Caplan. Dr. Caplan is Professor of Biology, Director Skeletal Research Center at Case Western. He coined the phrase “mesenchymal stem cell” in the late 1980s. I’m going to break the interview …
Insightful interview with Arnold Caplan: Part 1: MSC history, nomenclature, & properties Read More »
Allan Robins of Viacyte (pictured at left–sorry for the fuzzy image) and Paul Simmons of Mesoblast presented this morning at the CIRM Grantee Meeting. Both talks were outstanding. Robins went first. He started by saying how Viacyte had a productive pre-IND meeting with the FDA last year. I believe a target for them is to …
I’m here in San Francisco at the annual CIRM Grantee Meeting. As President Alan Trounson said, this is the best stem cell meeting in the world. We had two speakers tonight to kick off the meeting. Let me tell you my thoughts on each one. First, we had Rainer Storb from The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center …
CIRM Grantee Meeting on Wednesday March 6: fantastic talks by Drs. Storb & High Read More »