I was alerted by a friend to the fact that there are now YouTube ads for stem cell products popping up, and one such ad features supermodel Kathy Ireland pitching for something called Stemáge Skin Care. Updated (May 23): note that preliminary word from Sanford-Burnham is that they are not collaborating on Stemáge. Today’s post is […]
Kathy Ireland Stemáge Stem Cell Product: Part 1, is it a drug? Read More »
The Board of Directors of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) announced today that they have voted to dissolve the organization. CAMR is effectively at an end. The CAMR Board has decided, as described in an email, to “transfer its mission and its resources to an outstanding colleague organization, the Alliance for Regenerative
We had the big news last week that for the first time ever, human embryo cloning (aka “therapeutic cloning”) worked to produce apparently normal embryonic stem cells. I posted about it a few times here, here, and here. I have tried my best to be factual, open minded, and realistic about the issues. Frankly, the
Stem cell field stumbles on cloning dialogue Read More »
For the first time ever, scientists have successfully used somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) via the process of therapeutic human cloning to generate normal human embryonic stem cells (hESC). Recall that there are two kinds of human cloning: therapeutic (which is reported in the new paper discussed in this post) and reproductive, which is making
Human cloning successfully makes embryonic stem cells Read More »
What is a pluripotent stem cell and which version is the best? Adult stem cells are very powerful and important, but it is basically now an established fact that pluripotent stem cells will have important, unique applications in the clinic. Adult stem cells are not a panacea and we need pluripotent stem cells too. But
Which pluripotent stem cell type is most clinically promising? Take our poll Read More »
Will intellectual property (IP) wars over patent rights to one of the most exciting new stem cell technologies hold back getting novel therapies to patients such as IPS cells? Unfortunately, it’s very possible. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are very cool stem cells made from non-stem cells through a process called cellular reprogramming. iPS cells
Putting the IP in iPS cells: patent war looming? Read More »
Over at ScienceBlogs, Orac has put up an excellent post on the disturbing stem cell situation in Italy. This is a great, probing piece and I highly recommend it, but there’s more going on there too that is worth taking a look at including social media stuff. One of the other intriguing things about this
Stem cell clinic social media shenanigans exposed Read More »
There was a time, not so long ago, when the religious right hailed the discovery of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Headlines blared from the extreme right on the Internet such as, “Embryonic stem cells obsolete”. Even the same kind of thing, saying, “The stem cell debate is dead”. You see opponents of embryonic stem
Why the extreme religious right are turning against iPS cells Read More »
What is up with the stem cell company, Precision StemCell, these days? I can’t imagine they are exactly celebrating after having been reported to the FDA. They also have apparently moved operations from the US to Colombia at some point recently. What’s the deal here? First, a little background is helpful. In 2012, University of
Leigh Turner Reports Company Precision StemCell To FDA Read More »
It’s difficult to make it as a biotech company, I would say stem cell biotechs in general may have an even rougher time, and one such company, Intellicell (Intellicell Biosciences, Inc), is showing a number of signs of distress in my opinion. An online financial tool predicts the probability of companies going bankrupt within the next
Stem cell company Intellicell facing new financial wrinkles Read More »