Who reads this blog? A bunch of cool people including in science, educators, reporters, and patient advocates around the world. Some of them contact me, almost always to say nice things. Sometimes not so nice. To my knowledge this blog remains the only one in the world on stem cells written by a faculty level […]
The Niche deconstructed: some surprises Read More »
We have another Vatican stem cell meeting coming up this spring. This meeting raises some extremely important questions and complex issues at the interface of science, religion, philosophy and ethics. From the perspective of scientists, an important issue is whether (assuming one is invited) to attend such a meeting and if one does attend, is
Vatican Stem Cell Meeting 2.0: from stem cells to prison cells to hell? Read More »
I confess: I have stem cells on the brain. Yeah, I probably have a few stem cells left in this old brain of mine, but that’s not what I mean….rather, I mean that I am really curious and excited about how stem cells do their jobs in our brains. More specifically, I wonder about things such
Stem cells on the brain Read More »
I’ve now been blogging about stem cells here on The Niche for nearly 2 years, but why do I keep doing it? I’m by no means the only one who blogs about stem cells, but it is just that professors still are reluctant in the stem cell field to blog. Two outstanding blogs that tied
Why I am still blogging here on The Niche Read More »
Do we still need iPS cells if transdifferentiation is so cool? Wait, how did we get to the point that people are asking me that extreme question? When iPS cells were first introduced to the world by Shinya Yamanaka, who I think will win the Nobel Prize sometime in the next few years, some folks went
Transdifferentiation does not make iPS cells obsolete Read More »
Doris Taylor is heading southeast? Texas is holding up a Texas-sized magnet for stem cell super star researchers and it is working. The upper mid-West is reeling from the departure of two stem cell superstars in less than one year and both went South to Texas. First in May 2011, we had the departure of
About two months about Geron shocked and disappointed the stem cell community by dropping its stem cell program. The move was reportedly made for financial, not scientific reasons. Biotech companies have to be financially sound in order to help stem cell researchers turn science into cures and Geron’s leadership had to do what it thought
What does Geron’s departure mean for ACT? Some perspectives Read More »
Last year around this time I presented my first stem cell awards of the year, in that case for 2010. You can see whom I thought deserved awards here. Now it is time for our 2011 stem cell awards. These awards reflect my opinions and those not mentioned will hopefully forgive me as there is
Stem Cell Awards for 2011 Read More »
A year from now will I still be conducted federally funded research on human ES cells? What about the hundreds of other professors in the U.S. and their thousands of employees? It is not unreasonable at this point to forecast a perfect storm in Fall 2012 that may kill elements of stem cell research that
The perfect storm in Fall 2012 that may kill ES cells research Read More »
Yesterday Geron announced it would be immediately stopping its stem cell research program. What does this mean? While this program has (or should I say “had”) a number of elements, at its heart was of course its hESC-based OPC drug (GRNOPC1) for spinal cord injury, which was in an FDA-approved Phase I Clinical Trial that
The day after Geron news: a realistic outlook for the stem cell field Read More »