This morning on day two of the World Stem Cell Summit here in Pasadena, Rudy Jaenisch of the Whitehead Institute gave the scientific keynote address. It was a fabulous talk. Rudy Jaenisch, accurately described by Bernie Siegel as a true giant of the stem cell field, outlined the key issues facing the field of highly […]
Rudy Jaenisch & 5 key action items for the ES and iPS cell field 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 Read More »
Texas Governor and GOP presidential nominee wannabe, Rick Perry, seems to have stepped in it again when it comes to stem cells. It seems he put the cart before the horse on a grand scale, getting what appears to be an unlawful treatment and only now pleading for it to be legalized after the fact
Rick Perry & his first stem cell rodeo: it ain’t pretty Read More »
I know you care about stem cells and research, but do you know much about epigenetics? You should. If you do not understand epigenetics then you do not understand stem cells. Don’t be put off by the complicated sounding name “epigenetics”. It’s really simple conceptually and below is your easy-to-understand guide. Epigenetics controls nearly every
A layman’s guide to stem cell epigenetics Read More »
What’s big tent science? 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
Big tent science: new ideas about clinical trials Read More »
We have reached a watershed moment on stem cell tourism. The FBI has gotten very interested in stem cells. In my opinion we are on the cusp of a flood of arrests by the FBI of folks selling illegal stem cell treatments. Selling non-approved FDA stem cell treatments, particular those involving transport of the
FBI seems poised for flood of arrests for stem cell tourism Read More »
With the bewildering amount of news about stem cells, how do we tell the difference between hype and hope? Although the words “hype” and “hope” only differ by one letter, sometimes it is hard to tell them apart in real life, but of course they are very different things. So how do we know when
Stem cell hype: distinguishing it from hope Read More »
What will we define as a success for any given stem cell biotech like ViaCyte? In academia, even if we do pre-clinical, translational kind of biomedical sciences, we still do not often think about what it takes to succeed in industry. Even if we very much want our research to make a difference for patients,
This past week was a wacky and wild one for the stem cell field. All kinds of crazy things happened all in one week. What does it all mean? Stem cells the new steroids for sports? Reports surface this week that NY Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colon, had received a non-FDA approved stem cell treatment for
A crazy week for stem cells: what the heck does it all mean? Read More »
There are a lot of myths in the stem cell field, some even embraced by some stem cell scientists such as the notion that teratoma are always benign. But when we start talking about translating stem cell technology into the clinic, to the bedside, it is especially important to cast aside our myths, no
Myth of Perfect Stem Cell: meaning for ACT, Geron and field Read More »