Every year I do predictions for the stem cell field for the coming year. You can see my full post on my predictions for this year here. Stay tuned soon for my predictions for 2014. How’d I do for 2013 with my predications? Each prediction for this year that I made last year is bolded […]
How’d stem cell predictions for 2013 fare? Read More »
There have been many interesting developments in stem cells in 2013, but to me the biggest event by far was the first ever successful somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)-based human therapeutic cloning. This approach generated apparently genetically normal human embryonic stem cells (hESC), an astonishing accomplishment. There are two kinds of human cloning: therapeutic and reproductive.
Stem cell story of the year: human therapeutic cloning Read More »
I’m in the mood for something lighthearted and funny as sometimes humor is the best medicine so I’ve got a stem cell joke contest for you. The winner gets a signed copy of my book or a huge thing of cookies, your choice. The rules? Simple. The joke starts roughly as follows “Three stem cells
TGIF: Friday the 13th Stem Cell Joke Contest Read More »
A team led by Shinya Yamanaka has published a new study reporting analysis of defective induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells in the journal PNAS. Part of what I liked so much about this paper is that it tackled a very real, but controversial area of stem cell research. By this I mean the reality that a
Review of New Yamanaka Paper on Defective iPS cells Read More »
The voting is over and we have our top 12 finalists for the 2013 Stem Cell Person of the Year Award. You can see the final votes results below. It’s definitely an intriguing list that reflects the range of important areas in the field today. I can say without any hesitation that all 12 of
Dozen Finalists for Stem Cell Person of the Year 2013 Read More »
Nominations for Stem Cell Person of the Year 2013 closed last night and I ended up with a remarkable list of 30 nominees. I have included a few sentences about each one below, often taking verbiage directly from the nominator. The online voting on these nominees will start soon. The top vote getters will move
What if you could reprogram cells inside of an organism to a different fate and, for instance, make IPS cells? We can, right? But when most of us think about making induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, we imagine it all happening in a little plastic dish in our labs or in our colleague’s labs, not
Stem cell journal club: dishing on Nature paper on making iPS cells inside mice Read More »
Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg is a stem cell pioneer and has advanced the development of innovative stem cell therapies including those based on umbilical cord blood. She is a faculty member at Duke where she conducts her clinical research. I recently interviewed Dr. Kurtzberg and below is Part 1 of 2 of the interview. Part 2,
Stem Cell Pioneer Joanne Kurtzberg interview, Part 1 Read More »
I’m doing a series of posts on my recent conversation with BioTime CEO and pioneer of the stem cell field, Dr. Mike West. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 on Geron, ACT, and the history of the pluripotent stem cell field, particularly embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Today in Part 3, I am focusing on
Mike West Interview Part 3: key flaw in stem cell field Read More »
The big stem cell buzz the last day or two has been the news exploding across mainstream media outlets about laboratory-produced human liver grown from stem cells. It’s good news to be sure as it would seem we might be one important step closer to a new reality for millions of people suffering from liver disease.
Perspectives on human micro liver structures made from iPS cells Read More »