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’m rooting on my hometown Seattle Seahawks (4-0) against the Indianapolis Colts this morning. What an amazing game so far. You might think that a stem-o-phile (someone who is a fan of stem cells) can connect anything to stem cells. And someone who is a fan of both stem cells and football can link them …
Nominations for Stem Cell Person of the Year 2013 closed last night and I ended up with a remarkable list of 30 nominees. I have included a few sentences about each one below, often taking verbiage directly from the nominator. The online voting on these nominees will start soon. The top vote getters will move …
On May 13, 2011 I published a post entitled “Friday the 13th for iPS cells”. That day was indeed Friday the 13th and there were some reports in Nature of concerns about iPS cells in terms of immunogenicity and this had followed on the heels of reports on significant genomic and epigenomic warts in iPS …
Stem Cell TGIF on Friday the 13th: My Reactions to the Big Recent Stories Read More »
Stem cell research is exciting on many levels and provides real hope for treating an assortment of serious diseases and injuries in the future, but another potential positive of stem cells such as iPS cells is their use in producing modeling human tissues and organs to model diseases. A third positive, but often overlooked potential …
Stem Cells Will Reduce Need for Research Animals Read More »
In the stem cell field we hear this all the time: “Stem cells naturally home to areas of disease or injury.” But is it really true or just a useful myth? Such homing could be local such as if you inject stem cells into the parenchyma of the brain they go within the brain …
Do stem cells really home in on sites of disease or is that a myth? Take our poll Read More »
I recently conducted an interview with Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg of Duke. You can see Part 1 of the interview here. Today in Part 2, I asked Dr. Kurtzberg some broader questions about the stem cell field. 1. How concerned are you about non-compliant stem cell interventions here in the US as well as stem cell …
Joanne Kurtzberg interview, Part 2: clinics & stem cell field future Read More »
Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg is a stem cell pioneer and has advanced the development of innovative stem cell therapies including those based on umbilical cord blood. She is a faculty member at Duke where she conducts her clinical research. I recently interviewed Dr. Kurtzberg and below is Part 1 of 2 of the interview. Part 2, …
Stem Cell Pioneer Joanne Kurtzberg interview, Part 1 Read More »
Here’s an updated 2013 look at protecting one’s own existing stem cells. Regenerative medicine is very exciting. But what’s even better than regenerative medicine? Preventative medicine. If one can prevent a problem from occurring in the first place, it is far better than trying to treat it after the fact. Of course in many cases …
5 ways to protect your stem cells to stay healthy & younger Read More »
Today’s post is my no-B.S. guide to the possibility of stem cells being used to treat Multiple Sclerosis (MS). There is a great deal of buzz about using stem cells to treat or even cure multiple sclerosis. How much of this stem cell buzz is real hope and how much is hype? MS has a …
A no B.S. guide to stem cells for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Read More »