I’m doing this series called “The Elephant in the Lab” where I discuss controversial or taboo laboratory topics that people are usually too afraid to publicly discuss. I started with iPS cells (for a description and definition of iPS cells go here) and now have updated this post for 2013 because the field is changing rapidly. iPS …
The Knoepfler Lab 2012 Stem Cell Person of the Year is Roman Reed. Congratulations, Roman! Roman made a tremendous difference in 2012 in many ways. One of the most notable was catalyzing the TJ Atchison Spinal Cord Injury Research Act in Alabama, which provides $400,000/year in funding for research. Of course, TJ and many others …
Businessweek just published a very long, interesting article on Celltex by Susan Berfield yesterday. I was happy to talk with Susan at length about the key issues and be quoted in the article. See image at left of two key Celltex leaders, David Eller, CEO of Celltex, and Stan Jones above (Photograph by Thomas Prior …
Nuggets and pyrite in Businessweek article on Celltex Read More »
In previous years I’ve done yearly predictions for the coming year’s events in the stem cell world (see predictions for 2011 and 2012 predictions). I did pretty well in my predicting stem cell events for this year (see analysis here) scoring a respectable 70%. Isn’t that a C-?,you might ask. No, when it comes to …
More and more often I find myself chatting with reporters and science writers about stem cells. They want to know more for background on articles on topics ranging from core stem cell scientific issues to stem cell clinics. Over time I’ve realized I’ve been telling reporters and science writers some consistent things that amount to …
Reporters & sci-writers guide to interviewing stem cell clinics: key questions Read More »
I recently attend a conference in Florida called The World Stem Cell Summit. It was very enjoyable and unique in that it brings together and is open to all constituents of the stem cell world. I gave a couple talks and did an “expert” luncheon at this meeting, but what I enjoyed most was talking …
Perfect storm dodged: what are three key challenges for stem cell field going into 2013? Read More »
Every year around this time I put my “best of” the year in stem cells including awards such as my Stem Cell Person of the Year Award. For example here are the 2011 awards. This year I’m also trying with difficult to decide on what was the craziest thing for stem cells that happened in …
What was the strangest event for stem cells in 2012? Pick from top 5 in poll Read More »
Today, a judge issued a complex, temporary restraining order (PDF here, provided by Celltex) regarding Texas stem cell company Celltex and Human Biostar Inc (HBI)/Biostar, former partners who are now in conflict and have sued each other. For more background see here, here, and here. Note that while both parties have sued each other, the judge’s ruling …
Here on The Niche I’m giving out a Stem Cell Person of the Year Award for 2012 along with all my other annual awards (e.g. best stem cell journal, paper, blog, comic, activist, etc). 2020 update: you can see future winners of the award here. The Person of the Year winner will get recognition for …
Stem Cell Person of the Year Finalists: time to vote Read More »
Often on this blog I focus on challenges or problems in the stem cell universe, but sometimes it is important to focus on the good news and 2012 had much of that. There are more stem cell-based clinical trials than ever before and there is good reason to believe that many FDA-approved stem cell products …