By Jeanne Loring “Shared Labs Axed” was the headline for David Jensen’s blog about the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the funding agency founded after voters approved Proposition 71, the “stem cell research and cures” initiative. I was there when the ax fell, in Los Angeles at the meeting of CIRM’s governing board, along with […]
Guest Post By Jeanne Loring: Efforts to Save CIRM Shared Labs Read More »
Let’s putting on our “thinking caps”….er, extra brains, get our geek on, and have some fun imagining where stem cell technology may lead us in the coming century. Unhappy with the one brain you have? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a 2nd one too? A new one? Researchers have grown mini brain-like structures from
What would you do with an extra brain? Read More »
Was Einstein wrong on his definition of insanity? “Insanity”, said Einstein, “is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” But in science, how sane is it to expect experiments to give precisely the same results? How big a problem is irreproducibility in science? Experiments on that question have given variable
Was Einstein Wrong About Insanity? Read More »
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 »
Yesterday’s report of human therapeutic cloning to make embryonic stem (ES) cell lines is a big deal. I support the work and I believe it is very important. People’s reactions to it vary wildly depending on their agendas of course. This post is a no-nonsense overview of the main points. My overall point. This is
5 human therapeutic cloning talking points dissected Read More »
The mesenchymal stem cell (MSC). So important and yet so misunderstood? People pronounce it in different ways. People isolate the MSCs in different ways. Each person’s MSCs are very different. Each lab’s MSCs are different. (see picture above of MSCs showing fibroblastic morphology; source is Wikipedia) Someone once told me that MSCs are the same
Would an MSC by any other name still smell as sweet? 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 »
In the coming weeks and months, I am going to run a series of posts (some interviews, some guest posts) on human reproductive cloning. This is the kind of cloning where you take a person (living or dead) such as, let’s say Lady GaGa or Jesus, and you try to make a duplicate new human
Series on scientific & bioethics leaders discussing human reproductive cloning Read More »
Hisashi Moriguchi had a poster up at the NY Stem Cell Meeting yesterday and has done interviews with Japanese media saying that he has led a team that transplanted iPS cells into human patients. Reportedly his poster said and the newspaper articles have stated that the iPS cell transplant work had IRB approval from Harvard
Harvard Spokesman reiterates: Moriguchi did not have Harvard IRB approval Read More »
What are Conflict of Interests (COI)? The term COI is sometimes used inappropriately as a weapon by one party to attempt to discredit others. We see this more and more frequently in the stem cell field with boosters of for-profit, non-FDA vetted adult stem cell clinics attacking scientists for supposed COIs for what…..apparently for simply
Real and imaginary conflicts of interest: a helpful guide Read More »