Search Results for: embryonic stem cell

Word Cloud of Every CIRM-funded grant yields some surprising insights

CIRM, the California stem cell agency, has funded hundreds of grants during its relatively short existence. You can do searches of these grants through a handy dandy web portal that CIRM has made available–it’s a very cool tool and I commend CIRM for making it available. I wish the tool had more options however including …

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Why Horton was wrong: a person is not a person no matter how small, even in Mississippi

Horton-Hears-a-Who-in-Mississippi

Tomorrow night voters in Mississippi will vote on the so-called “Personhood Amendment”. If passed, the amendment would make a fertilized egg by definition a human being with the same rights as a living, breathing, thinking, walking person in the state of Mississippi. The consequences are not clear, but possibilities include such things as complete bans on …

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Some perspectives on CIRM funding for first clinical trial patient

Today marked a major milestone as the Geron spinal cord injury clinical trial, supported by CIRM funding, using human embryonic stem cell-derived oligodendrocyte precursor cells enrolled its first patient in California supported. CIRM funding = clinical trials progressing and patients treated. Many major media outlets covered the story including the North County Times in this …

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Lessons from getting attacked by ESC research opponents

Knoepfler lab stem cells

Monday I did a post in response to an item that appeared in the Secondhand Smoke Blog by Wesley J. Smith where he invoked the opponents of ESC research favorite term to contrast so-called adult stem cell research with ESC research. In addition, he implied that George W. Bush deserved some of the credit for …

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Trying to understand the Catholic ban on the Komen Charity

The Susan G. Komen Foundation is an awesome organization. It has raised nearly $2 billion dollars in less than 2 decades for breast cancer research. It also has a variety of educational programs. This is an organization that has likely saved hundreds of women’s lives and I think will save thousands of lives through its …

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The latest scoop on ACT and Geron

Advanced Cell Technology  (ACT) announced today that it has treated two patients in its clinical trials: one for Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy (see official trial page for a lot more info) and one for Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration (see official trial page here for a lot more info). The patients underwent the treatment at UCLA and each …

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Will America be 2nd rate for research?

Stem cell research is a truly global endeavor. How will America’s role evolve in this field and other areas of biomedical research? Because of politic, legal, and budgetary reasons, there are growing concerns that the U.S. may find itself 2nd rate for stem cell research and perhaps also for other fields of science as well. …

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Scientific-proof for the DC Court of Appeals that life begins at conception? Not by a long shot

The DC Appeals Court hears oral arguments today in the case over whether the federal government can legally fund embryonic stem cell (ESC) research. At stake are dozens of research projects that could provide treatments or cures for millions of Americans. Reportedly, an amicus brief to the court has been filed on behalf of Associate …

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