Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) is making a big announcement today about stems, the biggest they say in their almost decade-long existence. Last night I speculated/predicted some possible announcements. Today I’m betting they will announce the discovery of a novel factor called Betatrophin. More on Betatrophin in a minute, but first why do I think […]
What is Betatrophin & why is Harvard so excited about it? Read More »
Allan Robins of Viacyte (pictured at left–sorry for the fuzzy image) and Paul Simmons of Mesoblast presented this morning at the CIRM Grantee Meeting. Both talks were outstanding. Robins went first. He started by saying how Viacyte had a productive pre-IND meeting with the FDA last year. I believe a target for them is to
Viacyte & Mesoblast present at CIRM Meeting Read More »
I’m here in San Francisco at the annual CIRM Grantee Meeting. As President Alan Trounson said, this is the best stem cell meeting in the world. We had two speakers tonight to kick off the meeting. Let me tell you my thoughts on each one. First, we had Rainer Storb from The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
CIRM Grantee Meeting on Wednesday March 6: fantastic talks by Drs. Storb & High Read More »
Today the Supreme Court agreed to review three cases, none of which were Sherley v Sebelius. What a great day! For those curious, Certiorari Granted (subheading on Supreme Court announcement) means the Court has granted review of these cases. This is wonderful news for patients, the stem cell field, and probably biotech Advanced Cell Technology
Great news as Sherley v Sebelius officially over: Supreme Court Takes a pass! Read More »
Please support the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act. It’s in Jerry Brown’s hands now. This will take 1 minute of your time and make a world of difference. How to get in touch? You may contact Governor Jerry Brown by mail at: Governor Jerry Brown, c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173, Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916)
Please tell Guv Jerry Brown to sign the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act Read More »
It’s been a big couple months of headlines in the news for prostate cancer. I’m a prostate cancer survivor and cancer biologist so I spend probably more than my share of time thinking about prostate cancer and from a number of angles. A few days ago I got a test result suggesting I’m still in long-term
Updated: Do Vulcans Get Prostate Cancer and get surgery for it? Read More »
It’s been a big couple weeks of headlines in the news for prostate cancer. Let me help you make sense of it all. I’m a prostate cancer survivor and cancer biologist. Prostate cancer is almost an inevitable fate for men in America and for many around the world, but a significant fraction of the cancers
Making sense of all the big prostate cancer headlines of the last few weeks Read More »
Cancer invokes powerful feelings so it is not surprising that there are a lot of harmful myths and urban legends out there about it. As a cancer researcher and cancer survivor, I can see it from both the biomedical research side and the patient side. Here’s my top 10 list of myths & legends about
Harmful cancer myths & urban legends Read More »
As a stem cell scientist I hear all the time about how the pipeline from the lab to the clinic is incredibly slow and terribly inefficient. Meanwhile millions of people have conditions that the current state-of-the-art medicine cannot effectively treat. Somehow we need to make a fundamental change to improve this process. I think one
Big tent team science: new ideas about clinical trials Read More »
It has been a week to think about mentors and I posted somewhat autobiographically on how to find and be a good mentor a few days ago. Also along these lines, I asked one of the great mentors of all time, Irv Weissman, about his early career and who were the mentors that made the