The Vatican 2nd Stem Cell Meeting starts tomorrow and by the looks of the schedule, which was just recently posted, it should be a very interesting adult stem cell meeting. The range of speakers runs from patients to celebrity advocates such as Meredith Vieira to Nobel Laureate Dr. John Gurdon to stellar cancer researcher, Ron […]
Schedule is up for Vatican Stem Cell Meeting Read More »
One of my inspirations as a stem cell blogger was the pioneering Nature blog, the Niche. I was disappointed when it ended in 2009, but it still is a model of what excellence in science blogging is all about. In this piece today, I interview the co-Founder of the Niche, Dr. Natalie DeWitt. DeWitt now
Interview with Natalie DeWitt, Founder of Nature’s pioneering stem cell blog, the Niche Read More »
One of the problems in the stem cell field is that so few doctors have adequate training in stem cells (biology, transplantation, regulatory issues, GMP, ethics, patient rights, etc) and yet they are treating loads of patients in a for-profit setting. This not puts patients at great risk, but also the physicians themselves are putting
Two emerging acronyms in the for-profit stem cell world that remain unknown to most academic stem cell scientists, but that are generating the most buzz are: SVF and CAL. These are two fat acronyms. What? These acronyms relate to adipose (fat) stem cell-based procedures. SVF stands for “stromal vascular fraction”. SVF is, for lack of
SVF & CAL are two fat stem cell acronyms generating a lot of buzz Read More »
The FDA is faced with years of a static budget and a rapidly growing stem cell and cell therapy for-profit sector. It also faces criticisms (some that it has acknowledged are legit) from certain folks in the stem cell field. If you could change just one thing about the FDA in terms of its oversight
What Would be Your #1 Top FDA Reform on Stem Cells? Take our poll Read More »
Five legends and a blogger walk into a bar together. The bartender asks the first legend “What can I get for you?” The legend orders their drink. The bartender eventually serves up drinks to all five legends and turns to the blogger, “And what can I get for you?” The blogger replies, “Do you have Wi-Fi?
A few days ago I had a long, very enjoyable phone conversation with the father of the mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) field, Dr. Arnold Caplan. Dr. Caplan is Professor of Biology, Director Skeletal Research Center at Case Western. He coined the phrase “mesenchymal stem cell” in the late 1980s. I’m going to break the interview
Insightful interview with Arnold Caplan: Part 1: MSC history, nomenclature, & properties Read More »
The so-called “SafeCell” paper from the journal PLoS One is one that a number of advocates of deregulation of the stem cell industry often have mentioned to me: Safety of Cell Therapy with Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (SafeCell): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinical Trials I have read this paper and have some thoughts on it. As
An interesting paper just came out in PNAS reporting the apparent presence of a pluripotent stem cell population in the adult breast. The paper is Roy, et al. and is from Thea Tlsty’s outstanding lab at UCSF. I have read the paper and it seems very solid technically to me. The finding has stimulated some
Caution on mammary pluripotent stem cell paper Read More »
Is this a “good” stem cell blog post to write as I gobble down my lunch in between working on grants….hmm, maybe not. Too late! Stem cells are hot all around the globe, but they are particularly scorching hot in certain countries such as the Philippines. There are an increasing number of news articles on
Please pass on bull testicles Soup No. 5 & on stem cell Soup No. 7 Read More »