Recently I had the opportunity to talk with the leadership of Asterias, a California biotech doing exciting clinical research using stem cells as the basis for treatment of spinal cord injury. The interview covers the past (Geron patients), present, and future. I spoke with Asterias President and CEO Stephen Cartt and CMO Edward Wirth. How […]
Asterias interview: stem cell spinal cord injury trials advance Read More »
Some stem cell news headlines from the past week for you folks. Neuroscience: New nerves for old. Fixing stuff like strokes and paralysis. Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute and Stem Cell Institute receive five-year funding boost. Money flow to stem cells FDA “talks” stem cells in NEJM, “Clarifying Stem-Cell Therapy’s Benefits and Risks”, published on same day that 21st Century
Top stem cell & regenerative medicine headlines of the week Read More »
I received a score of great nominations for the Stem Cell Person of the Year 2016 Award and have briefly described the twenty nominees below. The point of the award is to honor the top positive stem cell leader who specifically thinks outside the box and takes risks. I’ve started an on-line vote where you can vote once per day for
20 Nominees for Stem Cell Person of the Year 2016 Award Read More »
For quite a while there San Diego-based stem cell business Stemedica had a good run of publicity with reports of high-profile professional sports legends getting stem cells and the media reporting apparent good outcomes for stroke recovery, but more recent times have yielded some different publicity. An investigative report by KPBS reporter David Wagner raised some
Where does stem cell business Stemedica go from here after KPBS investigative report? Read More »
KPBS reporter David Wagner has an important new piece out today on for-profit investigational stem cell treatments and he focuses to a large extent on a stem cell business in San Diego called Stemedica. If you’ve heard of this company it might be in part because they were involved in the Gordie Howe stem cells for stroke story that got
KPBS sheds new light on Jim Gass stem cell case, Stemedica Read More »
What can go wrong with unapproved stem cell clinic offerings? The answer including from presentations at the FDA today turns out to be very serious, negative results right here in the U.S. Thomas Albini, MD gave a talk entitled, “Severe Visual Loss After Intravitreal Injection of Autologous Adipose Tissue-derived Stem Cells for Age-related Macular Degeneration”.
Negative stem cell clinic outcomes include 3 blinded women Read More »
A brief report in the NEJM today highlights the risks facing patients who get stem cell treatment from dubious clinics as one such patient recently developed a large spinal tumor. Dr. Aaron L. Berkowitz and colleagues describe how this patient who received a mixture of several stem cell types from an overseas clinic was later diagnosed
Patient gets cancer growing on spine from dubious stem cell treatment Read More »
Science hype deserves negative attention for the harm it does including both to science itself and to patients. I’ve seen two really egregious examples of hype lately in science headlines. First from the Washington Post comes a stem cell story with a very hype-ful title: Stanford researchers ‘stunned’ by stem cell experiment that helped stroke
2 Recent Science Hype Awards on CRISPR & Stem Cells Read More »
By Heather Main I recently attended the UCSD Health CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinics Network Symposium at the Sanford Consortium, San Diego. There was of course some great academic research presented, including conflicting views on liver stem cell compartments from Roel Nusse and David Brenner, and advances in CRISPR technologies from Matthew Porteus. However, what
Keys to successful stem cell translation – Nurses, physicians and patient advocates Read More »
I try to catch up on my science reading over the weekends and evenings. Here’s my recommended weekend reading on stem cells & science. Did I miss anything especially cool? Let me know in the comments. Direct reprogramming of skin cells into insulin-producing cells. I love direct reprogramming. Healios and Athersys Enter Into Regenerative Medicine Partnership.
Recommended weekend reading on stem cells & science Read More »