What’s life as an academic scientist really like now? It’s gotten worse in the U.S. recently. There’s more stress about funding including on levels that we can’t control. I’m writing too many grant proposals these days. I’m wondering how much researchers are now using AI for grant writing, which I have not done. Does AI […]
Weekly reads: robot scientist, stem cell sperm make a baby, assembloids & sense Read More »
Chinese CRISPR research continues to grow and this includes interesting CRISPR biotech firms. Some here in the U.S. worry that American gene editing firms could be lagging behind. Especially over the past year, investors and even some scientists have voiced frustration. U.S. gene editing firms like Editas have been struggling for years. Its stock is
Weekly reads: Chinese CRISPR biotechs, cultured meat war, MSCs for Alzheimer’s Read More »
I have a new biomedical science column called Lab Dish over at STAT News. Every month or so I will write an opinion piece, often focused on new developments in the field. What’s the focus of Lab Dish? As a cell biology professor, I’ve made a conscious decision to write beyond the usual academic stuff
About Lab Dish, my new column at STAT News Read More »
Ever heard of woolly mice? I hadn’t either until recently. The story begins with de-extinction research. De-extinction can be both cool and arguably a colossal waste of research dollars. The specific effort to de-extinct woolly mammoths fits that dual classification. Woolly mice on the road back to mammoths? Let’s dig into this with some news:
What is a stem cell therapy? Does it have to include stem cells put into the body? Would you include a therapy that uses differentiated cells made from stem cells? I generally do use the term in that broader way. A similar question comes to mind: what is regenerative medicine? Should it include both cell
Weekly stem cell reads: HSCT, old embryo models, aging stem cells Read More »
I’ve written before about so-called test-tube burgers and bacon and other lab grown meat. Test-tube burgers Cells like muscle and fat progenitor cells are the basis for these products. Sometimes stem cells may come into play for such “test-tube burgers” as I generally call this type of lab meat. Cost seems to be a main
Weekly reads: test-tube burgers, CRISPR for space travel, more tuft cells Read More »
It’s always fun to see startups with cool ideas in the regenerative medicine space and a new one called GC Therapeutics got some nice coverage this week. What do you think the name of this firm stands for? I have one main idea I mention below. Before we jump into it, I want to introduce
How is research looking on stem cells for diabetes? I’m feeling more encouraged about the clinical research in that area. Before we jump into that let’s talk about two other things. The big news of the week was the felony plea deal by Liveyon’s John Kosolcharoen to charges related to marketing an unapproved cell therapy
How are things going with regenerative medicine and stem cells in Japan? It’s still an exciting time there, but I’ve noted a sense that it is a time of transition too in some ways. For example, government funding is perhaps less certain than in the past. Let’s start with a few articles on how the
Recommended reads: Stem cells in Japan, iPS cells for COVID & hearts, He Jiankui Read More »
Can researchers use CAR-T for lupus? It’s always exciting when one’s home institution has an interesting new therapy in development. Here at UC Davis Health, there has been an increasing stream of such encouraging trials in the pipeline. I’ve written before about the promising trial of stem cells for spina bifida. Now there’s news related
Recommended reads: CAR-T for Lupus, CRISPR vision, journal closures Read More »