Stem cells just splashed onto the stage at the World Cup in Brazil as injured Argentine soccer star Angel Di Maria got a sketchy stem cell treatment. He will not be able to play in the World Cup semifinal game this week, but apparently he is taking every possible measure to hope to be able to […]
World Cup Star Turns to Mystery Stem Cell Treatment Read More »
Just how good are human embryonic stem (ES) cells made by therapeutic cloning via nuclear transfer, with the successful technique first reported by the lab of Shoukhrat Mitalipov at OHSU last year? How do they compare to induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells or traditional ES cells made from IVF embryos? A new paper in Nature directly tackles these
Review of Mitalipov Nature paper: cloned ES cells vs iPS cells Read More »
The Obokata STAP cell papers in Nature were retracted today. It feels like it’s been a long time coming in one way as for months now it has felt like retraction was inevitable, but it’s been extraordinarily fast in another way as retractions almost never happen this fast. It’s a day of mixed feelings. This
Perspectives on STAP cell Nature paper retractions Read More »
This is a guest post on NIST. By Jeanne Loring Last week I visited NIST, the National Institute for Standards and Technologies in Gaithersburg, Maryland as a member of a review panel. NIST is the science branch of the US Department of Commerce, which is the business part of the government, and is not officially
The Measurers Size Up Stem Cells: what is NIST? Read More »
It was great being a postdoc in Bob Eisenman’s Lab at the Hutch in Seattle with colleagues like fellow postdoc Shawn Cowley. I loved it. Bob is a great mentor (see more on my experience there here) and the scientific interactions in the lab were wonderful. It’s been fun and interesting to follow the work
Cool paper by Shawn Cowley Lab on the role of HDACs in ES cells Read More »
As the STAP cell fiasco has evolved, there has been discussion of various possible resolutions or even penalties for those involved, both institutions like RIKEN and individuals. One of the most extreme and I believe way out of proportion potential outcomes suggested has been the dismantling of RIKEN’s entire Center for Developmental Biology (CDB) in
Don’t Penalize All of RIKEN CDB for STAP Cell Flap Read More »
A new patent has been awarded to James Sherley for a very unusual method claimed for making induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The patent, No. 8,759,098, claims that a single non-genetic chemical agent, xanthine, can by itself reprogram adult stem cells (ASC) into iPS cells (aka iPSCs; see image they released at left). Surprising patent, huh? Another
Sherley patent for reprogramming method like STAP cells Read More »
Glioblastoma and other related malignant glioma tumors including diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) are some of the most devastating of all human cancers, and glioma stem cells may contribute to the lethality. You can see an image of a glioma (the white area in the brain scan) from Wikipedia above. These brain tumors usually kill
Are glioma stem cells a path to better outcomes? Read More »
What is the Vacanti Mouse? Comedian John Oliver has an absolutely blistering segment (see below) on Dr. Oz in which he skewers the physician huckster. The video includes incredibly telling Oz testimony before Congress in which the celebrity doctor seems frankly pretty pathetic and cannot answer even simple questions about his selling of arguably snake oil on
Ear-itating: Awesome John Oliver Invokes Vacanti Mouse While Blistering Dr. Oz Read More »
What were people saying about STAP cells at the ISSCR 2014 meeting? It was a tale of two meetings when it came to STAP at ISSCR. Officially, bigwigs at the podiums only briefly mentioned it and they seemed to collectively argue that STAP was something unfortunate, but that the bigger danger was the overreaction to
STAP Cell Chatter From ISSCR Meeting Read More »