The future is now. Or so goes the expression. For CIRM, it rings true today. Last year I blogged about what we might expect from the new CIRM that would evolve and take form in the future. I was particularly thinking about this coming incarnation of CIRM, which I called CIRM 2.0, as it related […]
Welcome CIRM 2.0 and President Mills Read More »
Dr. Haruko Obokata held a news conference today in Japan about the STAP cell controversy. It was very painful to watch. I’m a softy so at moments I felt somewhat sad for her as I watched, but as a scientist I have to say the STAP situation has been very bad for the stem cell
Obokata STAP news conference: thoughts, questions & open discussion Read More »
I just heard some very good news on the regenerative medicine front, a new Regenerative Medicine Bill. US Senators Barbara Boxer and Mark Kirk today introduced The Regenerative Medicine Promotion Act, which would keep track of and promote regenerative medicine efforts. This is really exciting and provides hope. One of the neat things about this
Great News: Senators Boxer & Kirk Introduce Regen Med Bill Read More »
Are the Nature STAP stem cell papers compromised? Could Nature‘s investigation conclude with something as serious as retraction or rather a mild slap on the wrist? Somewhere in between? (note you may find this update post from 2020 to be of interest: Whatever happened to the STAP cell scientists including Haruko Obokata?) Why is this question
Are STAP Stem Cell Nature Papers Compromised? Read More »
Congratulations to my new friends Paolo Bianco, M.D., of Sapienza University of Rome (pictured at left), Elena Cattaneo, Ph.D., of University of Milan and Michele De Luca, M.D. of University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (photo in the middle of the post), for receiving the 2014 ISSCR Public Service Award. Drs. Bianco, Cattaneo, and De Luca are
Congrats to Bianco, Cattaneo, & De Luca for ISSCR Award Read More »
One of the big stem cell-related stories of 2013 was the controversy over the Stamina Foundation in Italy and its potential use of largely untested stem cell products on patients, including mostly children. The winner of my 2013 Stem Cell Person of the Year Award was Dr. Elena Cattaneo and one reason she won was the courage
Nature Slams Controversial Stamina Foundation: A Dangerous Situation Continues Read More »
What does the future hold for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), also known as the California Stem Cell Agency? While new CIRM grants should be awarded up until 2017, CIRM is rightly thinking about its future. Californians should be paying attention and thinking ahead too. You might say that since I’m a CIRM
The Case for CIRM 2.0: Continuing California’s Stem Cell Leadership Read More »
I recently did a poll on stem cell homing. As you can see from the poll results above, most respondents believe that stem cells can home depending on circumstances. Almost 2/3 of respondents believe that stem cells sometimes or always home in to areas of disease. However, most respondents did not believe in this being
Most people believe in limited stem cell homing Read More »
It’s Friday so time for some stem cell headlines. TGIF….although of course the stem cells will be growing, experiments going, the grants and papers continue being written, and data still analyzed on Saturdays and Sundays too in the stem cell field. Stem cells are not a Mon-Fri, 9-5 kind of universe, but most of you
TGIF: musings on recent stem cell headlines: some good, some stupid Read More »
Are MUSE cells for real? Stem cells come in different types that vary in a key property called “potency”, but very few are pluripotent. The more potency, the greater the flexibility of a stem cell to make other cell types. Flexibility in the cellular world is power. The most powerful stem cells generally used are
Jury is still out on purported adult pluripotent stem cells despite new MUSE paper Read More »