Exactly two years ago today, I was lying in a hospital bed literally across the street from lab here at UC Davis. It seems unreal in a way, but painfully real it was and still is. On November 30, 2009, I had surgery for prostate cancer. Two years ago, things seemed pretty bleak. Now on …
My 2 years with cancer and what I learned from Steve Jobs Read More »
What with the Mississippi “personhood” amendment up for a vote today and also the Vatican Adult Stem Cell Conference beginning tomorrow, I thought today was a good time for a post about adult versus embryonic stem cells. Does stem cell research have to be either/or? Adult or stem? Can’t someone be for both adult and …
Key points about adult versus embryonic stem cells Read More »
Today was the first day of the World Stem Cell Summit here in Pasadena. There is an excitement and energy here that is inspiring and unique, not something one typically finds at a traditional all-science, tunnel vision kind of conference. Here, thinking outside the box in terms of finding ways to advance stem cell research …
Inspiring first day of World Stem Cell Summit: my thoughts Read More »
As a stem cell scientist I hear all the time about how the pipeline from the lab to the clinic is incredibly slow and terribly inefficient. Meanwhile millions of people have conditions that the current state-of-the-art medicine cannot effectively treat. Somehow we need to make a fundamental change to improve this process. I think one …
Big tent team science: new ideas about clinical trials Read More »
This is just the first in a series “Tales from the hood” about the stories of the stem cell scientists at the front lines of research. What really goes on in labs? After spending nearly half of my life being a scientist in one form or another including much time studying stem cells, I have …
Tales from the Hood: what really goes on in research labs? Read More »
It has been a week to think about mentors and I posted somewhat autobiographically on how to find and be a good mentor a few days ago. Also along these lines, I asked one of the great mentors of all time, Irv Weissman, about his early career and who were the mentors that made the …
As some of you know, I had prostate cancer in 2009 and by the looks of the pathology report, it seemed like a bad one. Part of my own unique experience of being a cancer patient is that I also happen to be a cancer biologist. You might think this would be helpful, but really …
What cancer has taught me 584 days into my battle Read More »
As I am writing this, a revolution in medicine and science is building up steam around the world called Genomics. Let me clue you in so you do not miss the boat on this dramatic change coming in our lives. Genomics means the study of genomes. A genome is the complete sequence of an organism’s DNA, …
The Genomics Revolution: move over blood type, here comes your genotype Read More »
Tonight the Republican candidates for President of the United States will face off in their first fully-attended debate. The frontrunner by far to win the Republican nomination and face President Obama in the Fall of 2012 is Mitt Romney. Although that is not saying a whole lot given the weakness of the Republican group of …
President Romney and stem cells: the road to disaster Read More »
Today, I am launching a new effort called Stem Cell Outreach Program for Education (SCOPE). I think stem cell technology will transform medicine across the globe, but it will take a concerted effort to make certain that stem cell-based therapies do not become a type of medicine only available to the relatively wealthy or predominantly available …
Launching SCOPE: educating the world about stem cells in their own language Read More »