Nominations are open starting today for the Stem Cell Person of the Year Award for 2016. Please email me your nominations: knoepflerATucdavisDOTedu. This is a unique award as it is given to an individual who has taken risks to help others within the stem cell field and they based their actions on outside-the-box thinking. Another …
Nominations open for Stem Cell Person of the Year 2016 Award Read More »
The FDA’s stem cell meeting wrapped up today on day two with a diverse group of individual speakers. A series of patient testimonials today in favor of clinics was one thing that stood out. You can read my take of day one and the account of Jeanne Loring who was at the meeting. I’ve noted that on …
Report on day 2 of FDA stem cell meeting: patients, researchers, & more Read More »
CIRM announced recently the funding of a number of exciting new studies. ViaCyte received additional funding to support its development of its hESC-based pancreatic progenitor cell product PEC-Direct clinic trials. This work is very promising. CIRM also funded additional diabetes-related research by Humacyte on engineering blood vessels for use in dialysis, which is very creative. I …
Stem cell good news: CIRM funds new cutting edge studies Read More »
Something very unusual and positive just happened at this year’s ISSCR meeting. Every year in December I give out an award for the Stem Cell Person of the Year to the individual with the strongest positive impact in the stem cell field generated specifically from outside-the-box thinking and actions. Dr. Jeanne Loring was the recipient in …
At ISSCR 2016, $2,000 donation to Summit For Stem Cell patient group Read More »
The FDA stem cell meeting that was supposed to take place in April is now officially going to be a 2-day event in September. This public meeting is meant to get comments on four draft guidances related to regs on stem cell products and treatments.
A new paper from Shoukhrat Mitalipov’s lab on stem cell mitochondria points to a pattern whereby induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells tend to have more problems if they are from older patients. What does this paper mean for the stem cell field and could it impact more specifically the clinical applications of IPS cells? The new …
New Mitalipov paper on stem cell mitochondria: challenge for IPS cell field? Read More »
Over the years some scientists including yours truly have expressed concerns about the possibility that mutations could crop up during the reprogramming process to make induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS cells or IPSC). How concerned should we be about IPS cell mutations? A cool new paper, Bhutani, et al, in Nature Communications from a team led by …
For IPS cell mutations, some reassuring new data but validation still key Read More »
The stem cell arena is a complicated universe with a whole range of things going on at any one time and there’s usually ample negative things, but not all is bad news. It’s interesting to regularly look specifically at the good stem cell news out there. Below is a look at some top pieces of …
By Heather Main I was a little ashamed of myself that I didn’t know who half of the finalists were in Paul Knoepfler’s Stem Cell Person of the Year Award. I decided to look into it and find out what (or who) I have missed…..Interestingly, 3 of the 7 listed here are not scientists but …
Mini-bios on finalists for Stem Cell Person of the Year Read More »
I always like to do a bunch of science reading on the weekend when it’s quiet including stem cells, but also many other areas such as brain tumors and more. Here are some TGIF science links to thought-provoking reading. CRISPR stuff Where in the world could the first CRISPR baby be …
TGIF science links: CRISPR, stem cells, caffeine, & more Read More »