For better or worse, I am in the unique position of being a stem cell scientist and also a patient. Looking on the bright side this gives me a unique perspective on things. I know there are thousands of people out there looking for more practical information about stem cell therapies and treatments. These folks […]
Key facts for a patient about stem cell treatments Read More »
It’s great to talk to Irv Weissman. It has been a week to think about mentors and I posted somewhat autobiographically on how to find and be a good mentor a few days ago. Also along these lines, I asked one of the great mentors of all time, Irv Weissman, about his early career and
Irv Weissman, his early career & mentors that made the difference Read More »
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 »
I’ve been lecturing on stem cells as a professor here at UC Davis School of Medicine for many years so I can answer common questions such as “What are stem cells?”. The medical students ask many great questions. They are always interested in clinical applications. The goal of today’s article is to help you have
What are stem cells? Definition & what they are used for Read More »
What are the top stem cell blogs and websites? Who decides? Americans and people all over the world are inexorably changing how they get their information. While newspapers and the nightly news used to spoon-feed us the “top stories” in the news, their heyday is over and now most people get their news and information
What are the top stem cell blogs and websites in the world Read More »
What’s the most amazing, weird, funny, bad, good thing that has happened to you in the lab? Here’s one from me. One day as a graduate student I was finishing up a long weekend of work and was ready to go home. No one else was around in our lab or even in the building
A funny thing happened on the way to the incubator: life in the lab Read More »
Just how tumorigenic are iPS cells? The field really doesn’t know at this point. However, a steady stream of papers have raised red flag after red flag about genomic and epigenomic alterations/mutations that are linked to cancer. Of course, then there is the fact that all the genetic changes actually used to make reprogrammed cells
Secret Not so Secret Recipe for Safer iPS cells Read More »
When I was an eight-year-old kid, my older brother Dave was taking karate. I thought it was very cool. One day he came home from karate class and I asked him what they did that day. He said they were “learning to fall”. At the time I thought that was the dumbest thing I had
Learning to fall (and pull ourselves back up) Read More »
In Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece, Alice in Wonderland, there is a wonderful passage that came to mind as I read the latest response from the self-proclaimed ‘adult stem cell researchers’ suing the government to stop federally-funded ES cell research: “I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’ ” Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you
Stem Cells in Wonderland Read More »