I recently interview Arnold Caplan, the father of the MSC field, and published part 1 of the interview (you can read it here). Today in part 2 we cover more topics of great importance related to MSCs including propagation, placebos, and patients as well as publishing. A hot topic in the stem cell world more …
A few days ago I had a long, very enjoyable phone conversation with the father of the mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) field, Dr. Arnold Caplan. Dr. Caplan is Professor of Biology, Director Skeletal Research Center at Case Western. He coined the phrase “mesenchymal stem cell” in the late 1980s. I’m going to break the interview …
Insightful interview with Arnold Caplan: Part 1: MSC history, nomenclature, & properties Read More »
I’m here in San Francisco at the annual CIRM Grantee Meeting. As President Alan Trounson said, this is the best stem cell meeting in the world. We had two speakers tonight to kick off the meeting. Let me tell you my thoughts on each one. First, we had Rainer Storb from The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center …
CIRM Grantee Meeting on Wednesday March 6: fantastic talks by Drs. Storb & High Read More »
Over the last few weeks, I have enjoyed talking with and interviewing Dr. Allan Wu, of The Morrow Institute on stem cell cosmetic procedures. I was impressed greatly by his talk at the World Stem Cell Summit last year. Dr. Wu is a fellowship trained Surgical Molecular Biologist with a background in Molecular Embryology and a board …
Interview with Regenerative Surgeon, Dr. Allan Wu Read More »
The Korean-based stem cell biotech, RNL Bio, which also does business in the U.S. as RNL Bio and Human Biostar Inc, reportedly (seems to be a press release, PR) has filed an investigational new drug (IND) application with the Korean FDA (KFDA). The purpose of the application is to test the efficacy of autologous adult stem cells …
Just how safe are stem cell transplants? Is an autologous stem cell transplant always safe? Is it really true, as one stem cell transplant doc once said of autologous stem cell treatments, that “the worst thing that could happen is the treatment won’t work”? Are adult stem cell treatments by definition safe? The reality is …
Some 2012 papers that raise serious safety concerns about adult stem cell treatments Read More »
Here on The Niche I’m giving out a Stem Cell Person of the Year Award for 2012 along with all my other annual awards (e.g. best stem cell journal, paper, blog, comic, activist, etc). 2020 update: you can see future winners of the award here. The Person of the Year winner will get recognition for …
Stem Cell Person of the Year Finalists: time to vote Read More »
So far in my series of eight simple reasons not to get an unlicensed stem cell treatment I’ve covered three compelling reasons: potential loss of insurance coverage for negative outcomes that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, failure of patient follow up by the doctors and clinics, and exclusion from future clinical trial participation. …
The field of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) has really shaken up science over the last half dozen years reversing our notion that differentiated cells are stuck in that fate, when in reality they are plastic and can “turn back the clock” to become embryonic stem cell-like cells. Now we have an iPSC paper in Nature, …
Surprising human genomic mosaicism means not all your cells have the same DNA Read More »
I was fortunate enough to do my postdoctoral studies at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (aka “The Hutch”) in Seattle. I was a postdoc for more years than I’d like to admit, but it was a wonderful experience. The Hutch is the kind of place where you can imagine making the impossible become possible …
A tribute to Nobel Laureate E. Donnall Thomas, a true stem cell pioneer Read More »