Search Results for: US Stem Cell

Tex Guv Rick Perry Gets Stem Cell Treatment: what if ES cells were his only hope?

/ / 2 Comments

The Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry, an opponent of Embryonic Stem (ES) cell research, has reportedly undergone an experimental procedure on his spine involving autologous  transplantation of adult stem cells taken from his hip. The procedure, which is not FDA approved and costs tens of thousands of dollars, has no proven track record of success […]

Tex Guv Rick Perry Gets Stem Cell Treatment: what if ES cells were his only hope? Read More »

Interpreting Judge’s Embryonic Stem Cell Ruling

/ / 8 Comments
judge-royce-lamberth

U.S. Federal Judge Royce Lamberth dismissed the lawsuit of two self-proclaimed “adult stem cell” researchers against the government to block federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. (update: you may find a 2020 take on this whole saga to be of interest). Lamberth was the one who originally seemed to buy into the arguments of

Interpreting Judge’s Embryonic Stem Cell Ruling Read More »

Stem cell tourism disaster coming: my case for caution

/ / 6 Comments
stem-cell-tourism-tumor

Stem Cell Tourism is a blanket term now used to refer to patients receiving non-FDA approved stem cell treatments either by traveling here within the U.S. or more often outside the U.S. Clinics are sprouting up all over the world offering treatments based on stem cells. The science behind these is often non-existent. Most stem

Stem cell tourism disaster coming: my case for caution Read More »

Stem cell tourism: from bad to worse from 2010-2011

/ / 17 Comments
Irv Weissman, immune rejuvenation

At last year’s ISSCR 2010 Meeting in San Francisco, President Irv Weissman talked about the dangers of unvalidated stem cell treatments. He talked about the responsibility of stem cell scientists to stand against these and the importance for scientists not to endorse or serve on advisory committees of companies peddling such products and “therapies”. As

Stem cell tourism: from bad to worse from 2010-2011 Read More »

Portraying sci-fi about stem cells and aging as reality: quotes from Aubrey de Grey

/ / 2 Comments

I believe that stem cells may at some point allow people to live slightly longer, maybe a couple years on average. However, I think they have the potential to dramatically increase the quality of life during the time we are alive.  My colleague Amy Adams over at the CIRM research blog had a great post

Portraying sci-fi about stem cells and aging as reality: quotes from Aubrey de Grey Read More »

ISSCR KO’d in round one versus unproven clinics: where’s the FDA?

/ / 3 Comments

What is ISSCR doing about unproven stem cell clinics? One of the greatest and most infuriating ironies of the stem cell-based regenerative medicine universe is that while the FDA strictly regulates the progress of therapy development by Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) and Geron and other legitimate companies, at the same time mysteriously the FDA essentially

ISSCR KO’d in round one versus unproven clinics: where’s the FDA? Read More »

Grading stem cell blogs: what is the best in the world?

/ / 7 Comments

We have posted before about how anti-stem cell folks seem to be uniquely talented and/or motivated to get their gospel out there, particularly when it comes to the Internet. According to Google search results, some of the top hits for “stem cell blog” are sites that are extremely anti-stem cell research and have little in

Grading stem cell blogs: what is the best in the world? Read More »

The recipe for success for stem cell biotechs such as Geron, ACT, and ViaCyte: 3 key ingredients

/ / 5 Comments

What will we define as a success for any given stem cell biotech like ViaCyte? In academia, even if we do pre-clinical, translational kind of biomedical sciences, we still do not often think about what it takes to succeed in industry. Even if we very much want our research to make a difference for patients,

The recipe for success for stem cell biotechs such as Geron, ACT, and ViaCyte: 3 key ingredients Read More »

Advanced Cell Technology and Geron: allies or competitors?

/ / 3 Comments
Geron-300x2212

Two companies, Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) and Geron, both HQ’d here in California, have FDA-approved early stage clinical trials in the works. Geron’s trial has already started and reportedly now has enrolled at least two patients. The trial is of course for the safety of Geron’s GRNOPC1 oligodendrocyte product made from human ES cells for

Advanced Cell Technology and Geron: allies or competitors? Read More »