What happens if we start using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells clinically in humans? A cool new paper recently came out that gets us closer to being able to predict an answer. It’s an important question as iPS cell-derived cellular products are getting closer to clinical use. For example, the first iPS cell-based clinical trial …
Cool, encouraging new preclinical study on monkey iPS cells Read More »
If you are like me, you’ve managed to watch at least a bit of the Olympics the last few weeks. Sometimes I squeeze in a few minutes late at night while multi-tasking writing a grant. Other folks with more time on their hands are Olympics fanatics with gold medals, ice, and snow on the brain …
In cell Olympics iPS cells get gold, while STAP cells are too young to judge Read More »
In the interview below I talk with Dr. Masayo Takahashi, who is leading a team conducting the first ever in-human clinical study based on iPS cells. The work began with patient enrollment on Aug. 1, 2013 in Japan. Masaya Takahashi background 1. Can you tell us a bit about your background? As an M.D./Ph.D. and …
Masayo Takahashi Interview on iPS cells, clinical studies, & more Read More »
I recently did a poll asking readers of my blog to vote on the iPS cell paper of the year for 2013. The vote kind of seesawed at the beginning, but in the end with 100 votes cast the paper by the Hannah lab on near-perfect iPS cell production won out (see votes at left). …
Hannah near-perfect reprogramming voted as iPS cell paper of 2013 Read More »
The stem cell field has seen quite a few high-profile, intriguing papers on induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Which do you think is the iPS cell paper of the year for 2013? The iPS cell field continues to advance rapidly. If you think one not listed is the best, let us know in the comments. …
A team led by Shinya Yamanaka has published a new study reporting analysis of defective induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells in the journal PNAS. Part of what I liked so much about this paper is that it tackled a very real, but controversial area of stem cell research. By this I mean the reality that a …
Review of New Yamanaka Paper on Defective iPS cells Read More »
What if you could reprogram cells inside of an organism to a different fate and, for instance, make IPS cells? We can, right? But when most of us think about making induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, we imagine it all happening in a little plastic dish in our labs or in our colleague’s labs, not …
Stem cell journal club: dishing on Nature paper on making iPS cells inside mice Read More »
I recently did a poll on people’s reactions to the new paper reporting use an all-chemical approach to making iPS cells through cellular reprogramming. I got a good number of responses relatively quickly. The results so far suggest that by far most people think it is too soon to know the importance of this new …
In a rare sign of stem cell international regulatory unity, the Japanese Health Ministry (厚生労働省) and the US FDA have agreed to develop a joint, unified regulatory framework for clinical studies of human iPS cells for use in treating retinal diseases. Presumably the rules would also guide clinical use of iPS cells to treat other …
FDA & Japanese Health Ministry (厚生労働省) To Develop iPS cell clinical rules Read More »
I’ve been researching the issue of how intellectual property (IP) and patents to induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell will influence the field. It’s a complicated, worrisome picture in terms of getting this technology to patients to help them. I’m concerned there may be an all out patent war. Even for those who do not go …
Sky’s the limit on iPS cell licensure cost from Academia Japan Read More »