New ISSCR President, Dr. Janet Rossant, kindly agreed to do an interview with me focused on the future of ISSCR, her plans for her tenure, and some key issues in the field. Dr. Rossant is Chief of Research at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. 1. The stem cell arena is a very rapidly changing one […]
By Dr. Susan Lim A record 4100 delegates attended the 11th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), held at the Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston from 12-15 June 2013. Co-sponsored by the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Meeting featured 7 Plenary sessions including a Presidential Symposium, 20 concurrent scientific
Delightful overview of ISSCR 2013 by guest blogger Dr. Susan Lim Read More »
Is Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) on the road to cure Multiple Sclerosis (MS) using stem cells and specifically MSCs? Some folks seem to think it’s quite possible, but I remain skeptical. Still there have been some interesting developments. ACT has a relatively new patent filing for a mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) product that was just
ACT patent filing for MSCs: of Dancing Mice & Multiple Sclerosis Read More »
Over at the Harvard Law “Bill of Health” blog, Mary Ann Chirba and Alice A. Nobel posted a piece entitled “Our Bodies, Our Cells” a few days ago that has generated a lot of discussion about FDA regulation of stem cell interventions. Their piece really has two parts. In the first part they go through
My response to ‘Our Bodies, Our Cells’ Harvard post on deregulation Read More »
Are MUSE cells for real? Stem cells come in different types that vary in a key property called “potency”, but very few are pluripotent. The more potency, the greater the flexibility of a stem cell to make other cell types. Flexibility in the cellular world is power. The most powerful stem cells generally used are
Jury is still out on purported adult pluripotent stem cells despite new MUSE paper Read More »
Remember the electric StemCell Bra? This innovation is hoped by the creators to grow bigger breasts for women via the power of electricity and stem cells. Could this work? How would it work? Is it safe? Are there clinical trials ongoing? Who is the team and what is the rationale behind this technology? I’ve emailed
The StemCell Bra interview with Howard Leonhardt Read More »
After several years doing this blog, I have come to the conclusion that when it comes to stem cells, fact is sometimes stranger than fiction and a case in point is the new electronic stem cell bra. It is intended but not proven to augment breast size. Yes, you read that right. The StemCell Bra (seen screen
Electric stem cell bra for breast enlargement Read More »
What is up with the stem cell company, Precision StemCell, these days? I can’t imagine they are exactly celebrating after having been reported to the FDA. They also have apparently moved operations from the US to Colombia at some point recently. What’s the deal here? First, a little background is helpful. In 2012, University of
Dr. Steven Victor, CEO of Intellicell, seems to have made two comments on a recent blog post I did on stem cell sports medicine (see below). Victor and Intellicell received a warning letter from the FDA in March 2012 with the FDA. I’m not aware of Intellicell publicly addressing the FDA issues. If you have, Intellicell, please
Dr. Steven Victor of Intellicell Comments on its Stem Cell Treatments Read More »
I finally got a chance to read the Cell paper by the Melton team on Betatrophin and it is quite cool. Update — Unfortunately the Betatrophin paper discussed here originally back in 2013 has now largely been proven to have come to incorrect conclusions (for more read this). I think one big question is whether
More on Betatrophin, my take on the Cell paper, and a video Read More »