Wait, what’s that taboo elephant doing in the IPS cell lab? You don’t see it? I’m starting a new series called “The Elephant in the Lab” where I discuss controversial laboratory topics that people are usually too afraid to publicly discuss. We are starting with iPS cells. (for a description and definition of iPS cells …
Taboo topics about iPS cells: the elephant in the lab series Read More »
Do we still need iPS cells if transdifferentiation is so cool? Wait, how did we get to the point that people are asking me that extreme question? When iPS cells were first introduced to the world by Shinya Yamanaka, who I think will win the Nobel Prize sometime in the next few years, some folks went …
Transdifferentiation does not make iPS cells obsolete Read More »
George Bush deserves credit for iPS cells? No way. One of the weapons in the war against stem cell therapies is the use of a seemingly simple word: “ethical”. What does it mean to do ethical science in general and in particular what is ethical stem cell research? Who decides? According to the opponents of …
News flash: George Bush deserves credit for iPS cells? Read More »
Stem cell-based regenerative medicine has the potential to help treat not only humans with injuries or illness, but also veterinary patients such as dogs and horses. Is it also possible that stem cell technology could prevent extinction of endangered species? A recent paper suggests this may be the case. The paper in question by a …
iPS cells and endangered species: a recipe to avoid extinction? Read More »
I put up a poll recently asking readers for their predictions on where iPS cells as a field will be one year from today. We got a large number of responses to the poll and overall they appear to reflect surprisingly limited optimism. I am not as pessimistic as my blog’s readers, but I think there …
The best talk today was the keynote address by Dr. George Daley focused mostly on iPS cells. Dr. Daley is one of the world’s experts on iPS cells and pluripotent stem cells more generally. He covered many interesting elements of the iPS cell field including the genetic mutations that seem to occur during the reprogramming …
Summary of George Daley talk on iPS cells today in Seattle Read More »
There were three talks today on iPS cells here at the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy in Seattle. Dr. James Ellis made the interesting case that it may actually be preferable to make iPS cells using genetic methods (while everyone else seems to be saying that non-genetic methods will be better). Dr. Ellis …
News on iPS cells from some top scientists at ASGCT meeting today Read More »
Today is Friday the 13th, which is supposed to be bad luck, and it seems to be a bad luck day for iPS cells. A paper came out today in Nature that will be highly upsetting for anyone hoping that iPS cells can follow a fairly direct path to the clinic. The paper from Yang …
Yesterday I ran a cancer stem cells meeting here at UC Davis School of Medicine. We had some great speakers and over 150 participants including our outstanding keynote speaker, Dr. Jeremy Rich, Director of Stem Cell Research at the Cleveland Clinic. One of the ideas percolating through the meeting was that during cancer development, there …
Since Yamanaka’s discovery of iPS cells first in mouse and then in human cells 5 years ago, both made using viral transduction, a host of new methods to make iPS cells have been reported. These methods are quite diverse, ranging from transposons, to recombinant proteins, to plasmids, and to RNA. Often times these new …
Why miRNA iPS cells might be the ticket: an A+ paper Read More »