Search Results for: Advanced Cell Technology

Nicholas Wade of the New York Times again Misses the Stem Cell Boat

In late 2010, Nicholas Wade, then a frequent science writer for the New York Times, wrote a frankly nasty piece on the stem cell field that was insulting and oversimplistic. Now today we have yet another piece in the NYT by Wade on stem cells, and he mostly makes a mess of it again, with …

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Nominees for Stem Cell Person of the Year 2013: scientists, advocates, physicians, and the Pope

Nominations for Stem Cell Person of the Year 2013 closed last night and I ended up with a remarkable list of 30 nominees. I have included a few sentences about each one below, often taking verbiage directly from the nominator. The online voting on these nominees will start soon. The top vote getters will move …

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Interview with BioTime CEO Michael West Part 1: a little stem cell history

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It was my pleasure recently to  talk at length with Dr. Michael West, CEO of the Stem Cell Biotech, BioTime (BTX). West has been at the helm of BioTime since 2007 and is a true pioneer in the stem cell field. He founded Geron (GERN) and was a top leader at Advanced Cell Technology (ACT; stock …

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The StemCell Bra interview with Howard Leonhardt

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 …

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Putting the IP in iPS cells: patent war looming?

war

Will intellectual property (IP) wars over patent rights to one of the most exciting new stem cell technologies hold back getting novel therapies to patients such as IPS cells? Unfortunately, it’s very possible. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are very cool stem cells made from non-stem cells through a process called cellular reprogramming. iPS  cells …

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Meet Retina Institute of Japan: translating iPS cells

Retina-Institute-of-Japan

If you are wondering, “How will iPS cells get to help patients?” part of the answer is perhaps the big player and Japanese Institution, Riken and its arm Retina Institute of Japan. The stem cell field is still abuzz about induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells 7 years after their discovery. This amazing embryonic stem cell-like cells can …

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Some thoughts on the Araki Nature iPS cell paper: an advance, but a few key caveats

I’ve already talked with science writer Ed Yong about the new Nature paper Araki, et al. (you can read Ed’s well-written piece here and you can another one on it by another one of my favorite writers, Monya Baker here), which suggests that iPS cells don’t trigger much in the way of an immune response. I …

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Predictions for the stem cell field for 2013: but first how did I do predicting for 2012?

Every year I make predictions about what the following year will bring us in the stem cell field. For example, last year I made some predictions for 2012 and I shortly will do a post on my predictions for 2013. First, how did I do with my predictions for this year, which I made in …

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