I just participated in a panel discussion at the World Stem Cell Summit moderated by Lee Buckler on what patients should be thinking about as they contemplate non-compliant stem cell interventions. Also on the panel was Dr. Allan Wu. Both Lee and Al are exceptional members of the stem cell community so it was fantastic […]
World Stem Cell Summit Panel on Non-Compliant Stem Cells Read More »
Where do things stand with some players in the for-profit world of stem cell and cellular medicine companies? Here are a few brief news items with quick analysis. Mesoblast is dominating the news of late. Mesoblast reported good news from its Phase II safety trial for its mesenchymal progenitor cell (MPC) product in patients with
Stem Cell & Cell Med Industry Briefs Read More »
A team led by Shinya Yamanaka has published a new study reporting analysis of defective induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells in the journal PNAS. Part of what I liked so much about this paper is that it tackled a very real, but controversial area of stem cell research. By this I mean the reality that a
Review of New Yamanaka Paper on Defective iPS cells Read More »
On November 18 in Washington, D.C. the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences will hold a workshop on stem cell therapies. The meeting (agenda here) is also co-sponsored by ISSCR. I have some major concerns about this meeting. In principle and in a general sense, I believe this is the kind of meeting and
Puzzling Institute of Medicine stem cell workshop Read More »
I have to admit a small fascination for tabloid, wildly over the top stories about stem cells. Maybe it’s just that I need a good laugh to escape the black hole of academia at times even if only momentarily? Of course some crazy stem cell stories reflect actually dangerous situations for patients, but that doesn’t
TGIF: Craziest stem cell stories of the week Read More »
What does the future hold for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), also known as the California Stem Cell Agency? While new CIRM grants should be awarded up until 2017, CIRM is rightly thinking about its future. Californians should be paying attention and thinking ahead too. You might say that since I’m a CIRM
The Case for CIRM 2.0: Continuing California’s Stem Cell Leadership Read More »
Congratulations to Dr. Elena Cattaneo, the winner of the 2013 Stem Cell Person of the Year Award. Her lab studies neural stem cells, particularly as they relate to developing new therapies for Huntington’s Disease. Cattaneo is Director and Co-Founder of the Unistem, the Centre for Stem Cell Research at the University of Milano, Italy. She
Stem Cell Person of the Year 2013: Elena Cattaneo Read More »
You can jailbreak your iPhone, but perhaps you can jailbreak a cell too to turn it into a stem cell. In his very cool talk up here at the Till & McCulloch Meeting on Stem Cells yesterday, Andras Nagy characterized the reprogramming process to make iPS cells as “jailbreaking” cell fate. Nagy described some intriguing studies done on
Jailbreak Cell Fate to Reprogram Stem Cells Read More »
If there was one stem cell meeting I would absolutely not want to miss next month in November if at all possible, it is the 2013 World Alliance Forum “Future of Stem Cells” in San Francisco. Are you going? Win free tickets to this meeting here! Unfortunately I have a conflict so I will this
World Alliance Forum “Future of Stem Cells” features Shinya Yamanaka Read More »
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
Nicholas Wade of the New York Times again Misses the Stem Cell Boat Read More »