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 cell poll: interesting results & regional differences Read More »
The recent publication of two Nature papers by a team in part led by Dr. Charles Vacanti on acid treatment produced stem cells (so-called STAP stem cells) has been a blockbuster story in the stem cell field and has grabbed major global media attention as well. For background my review of the paper here and more thoughts here. Many
Interview with Charles Vacanti on STAP Cells: Link to Spore Stem Cells & More Read More »
In two Nature papers (here and here) published today researchers report the astounding finding of reprogramming differentiated cells back to a pluripotent or even totipotent state simply by exposing the cells to extreme environmental stress, creating cells they called STAP cells. Update: see more thoughts on STAP stem cells here. STAP cells: stressing the cell
Review of Obokata STAP cells Nature papers Read More »
Here are some cool science reads to enjoy this weekend. Lab-grown sperm made from stem cells can’t swim, but are able to fertilize eggs, reports Eric Boodman over at STAT. Mouse-human neural crest chimeras: Not only a matter of black and white. Clever title. Antonio Regalado writes about a DNA App Store coming soon to a
Weekend reads: sperm, stem cells, chimeras, STAP, DNA Apps Read More »
A heated series of discussions on stem cell publications is ongoing on the Post-publication review (post-pub) website, PubPeer, which has been called by a PubPeer user “The stem cell shoot out“. This “shoot out” goes well beyond the one page on PubPeer. It is notable to see that the authors of the papers that are the
PubPeer “Stem Cell Shoot Out” & STAP 2.0 Clarification Read More »
It’s been many months since I last asked, so for one last time in 2014, here’s a poll on your views of STAP stem cells. What do you think? You can vote once per day. I am going to follow up with a couple different STAP-related polls this week, but this is the last one
Do You Believe in STAP Stem Cells? One Final Poll in 2014 Read More »
Will a few of the “elite” of the research world be on the wrong side of history when it comes to STAP cells? It seems some don’t want people talking about just how bad the STAP situation might be. Bad news may travel fast as the expression goes, but the people who talk about it may
STAP coverage ruffles some ‘elite’ stem cell feathers Read More »
I believe that social media has on the whole had a strongly positive impact on the STAP cell situation that the stem cell field has been grappling with for 5 weeks. If the STAP method is proven to be correct at some later date, which is possible, it’s almost certain that those replication efforts will
Social Media Helps Field Deal With Stressful STAP Stem Cell Situation Read More »
On the STAP cell front, I’ve heard several reports now that labs can sometimes see some kind of either Oct4-GFP reporter activity or pluripotency gene expression in acid treated cells, but the scientists do not seem particularly encouraged. One said that the cells gave a glimmer of interesting gene expression, but would not grow at
Latest STAP stem cell whispers: glimmers of hope or mirages? Read More »
What will the future bring for STAP stem cells? Let’s look into a stem cell crystal ball. We are now one month out from the original publication of the papers. When we are three or six or twelve months out from their publication will independent labs have succeeded in replicating the method? It’s possible, but
What does future hold for STAP stem cells? Possible paradox Read More »