I’ve been doing a poll on the extent to which people believe or do not believe in the stress-induced STAP stem cells reported in Nature last week. In just a few days of poll, we’ve got almost 400 respondents, which is great. It’s still not a scientific poll, but the results (above) are interesting for […]
STAP stem cell poll: interesting results & regional differences Read More »
The current President of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), Dr. Alan Trounson, will be leaving the agency in the near future to have more time with his family back in Australia. As a result, CIRM will need a new President at a critical juncture in its history with only about 4 years of
CIRM Presidential Search Committee Formed to Pick New Leader Read More »
Alan Trounson, President of CIRM and CIRM itself both announced late this afternoon that Trounson will be leaving the California Stem Cell Agency. Trounson is leaving CIRM to spend more time with his family, who are literally located around the world in Australia. In an email to the CIRM community, Trounson said: “I need to
CIRM President Trounson To Leave the Agency Read More »
The Australian stem cell biotech Mesoblast (MSB) has reportedly reached a deal with the American stem cell biotech Osiris (OSIR) to buy Osiris’ mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) unit. This is a big development in the MSC field. Osiris and Mesoblast are two major players in this particular subfield of the stem cell world so this deal,
Mesoblast (MSB) buys Osiris (OSIR) stem cell unit Read More »
Here is a comprehensive listing of the top stem cell meetings and conferences for 2014. My listing of these meetings is not an endorsement of them, but is provided for informational purposes so I am being as inclusive as possible. If you want me to post your meeting, email me or post a comment (I’ll delete
Stem Cell Meetings & Conferences 2014 Read More »
Late in 2012 I did a piece on the global trends in stem cell clinical trial patterns. It is time for an update. Another look at stem cell clinical trials now (late Sept. 2013) based on the clinicaltrials.gov database shows an encouraging trend. Total Stem Cell Clinical Trials The total number of stem cell clinical
Maps of global stem cell clinical trial trends Read More »
Are MUSE cells for real? Stem cells come in different types that vary in a key property called “potency”, but very few are pluripotent. The more potency, the greater the flexibility of a stem cell to make other cell types. Flexibility in the cellular world is power. The most powerful stem cells generally used are
Jury is still out on purported adult pluripotent stem cells despite new MUSE paper Read More »
One of the most exciting types of stem cells are mesenchymal stem cells or MSCs. Although there is some debate about these cells (e.g. I once heard Irv Weissman say at a meeting he wasn’t sure they really existed as such), a consensus would seem to be that they have great potential medical potential. Perhaps
Mapping global trends in MSC & stem cell clinical trials: unexpected findings Read More »
A scientist named Dr. Rongxiang Xu has, according to the newspaper The Australian, sued the Nobel Prize Committee for giving the award to Yamanaka and Gurdon and not him. Xu is quoted in the article that he “discovered ‘regenerative cells’ in 1984. The suit filed in S. California, alleges libel and unfair competition. The Australian
Chinese scientist sues Nobel Committee for defamation over awards to Yamanaka and Gurdon Read More »
Who reads this blog? A bunch of cool people including in science, educators, reporters, and patient advocates around the world. Some of them contact me, almost always to say nice things. Sometimes not so nice. To my knowledge this blog remains the only one in the world on stem cells written by a faculty level
This blog deconstructed: some surprises Read More »