U.S. Federal Judge Royce Lamberth dismissed the lawsuit of two self-proclaimed “adult stem cell” researchers against the government to block federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. (update: you may find a 2020 take on this whole saga to be of interest). Lamberth was the one who originally seemed to buy into the arguments of …
The Republican Party is really the “kill them all and let God sort them out” kind of party. Their latest craziness in the arena of science is toying with the notion of shutting down the NIH entirely or at least the ability of NIH to issue any new grants. So perhaps their new mantra is …
Kill them all and let God sort them out: what happens if the Republicans shut down NIH? Read More »
A year ago I did a post on scientific peer review and the dreaded Dr. No, but have things gotten any better? No. From everyone I have talked to, the answer would seem to be quite the contrary–things continue to move in the wrong direction. If you are not a scientist, but care about stem cell …
I Still Hate Your Paper: Dr. No and the Editors that are ruining Peer Review Read More »
At last year’s ISSCR 2010 Meeting in San Francisco, President Irv Weissman talked about the dangers of unvalidated stem cell treatments. He talked about the responsibility of stem cell scientists to stand against these and the importance for scientists not to endorse or serve on advisory committees of companies peddling such products and “therapies”. As …
Stem cell tourism: from bad to worse from 2010-2011 Read More »
As some of you know, I had prostate cancer in 2009 and by the looks of the pathology report, it seemed like a bad one. Part of my own unique experience of being a cancer patient is that I also happen to be a cancer biologist. You might think this would be helpful, but really …
What cancer has taught me 584 days into my battle Read More »
Happy 4th of July everyone! In American history, another year has passed since our independence and it’s been one, in the stem cell field, of plenty of fireworks and more is sure to come. We have had the beginnings of three FDA-approved human ES cell-based clinical trials and also trials of other sorts meaning the …
Stem Cell Fireworks: what would our founding fathers think? Read More »
You know how when people give you bad news they ask “Are you sitting down?” Since I’m going to give you some good news in this post, I ask you now as you are reading this, are you standing up? We are constantly bombarded with news stories about what is bad for us. Some of …
As I am writing this, a revolution in medicine and science is building up steam around the world called Genomics. Let me clue you in so you do not miss the boat on this dramatic change coming in our lives. Genomics means the study of genomes. A genome is the complete sequence of an organism’s DNA, …
The Genomics Revolution: move over blood type, here comes your genotype Read More »
Tonight the Republican candidates for President of the United States will face off in their first fully-attended debate. The frontrunner by far to win the Republican nomination and face President Obama in the Fall of 2012 is Mitt Romney. Although that is not saying a whole lot given the weakness of the Republican group of …
President Romney and stem cells: the road to disaster Read More »
The NY Times recently had an article ” ‘You Look Great’ and Other Lies” that listed six things NOT to say to a cancer or other patient, and then a few things you can always say. As someone who went through cancer surgery in late 2009, I’m not sure I totally agree with these, but they …