The odds of Mitt Romney becoming our next President seem to be increasing. If Romney becomes our next president, what will he do about stem cells? He’ll be an active enemy of embryonic stem cell research. He’ll support the crazy personhood movement. Why do I say that? Earlier this year I had a run in […]
If Romney wins, look for extremist Witherspoon Council to control his stem cell policy Read More »
I believe and have argued for years that Shinya Yamanaka, the discoverer of induced pluripotent stem cells (aka iPS cells) deserves the Nobel Prize. I’m very glad today that he received it. Some readers may find it a bit ironic that I believe so strongly in this way since over the years I have often
Why Yamanaka deserved the Nobel Prize for induced pluripotent stem cells Read More »
Stem cell revolutionaries Drs. Shinya Yamanaka and John Gurdon have won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Gurdon cloned for the first animal, a frog, and Yamanaka produced induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a kind of stem cell with the power of pluripotency, but derived from ordinary non-stem cells. Gurdon’s work was based
Nobel Prize 2012 for stem cells to Yamanaka & Gurdon: why only 2? Read More »
One of the questions I get asked most often is whether induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) are well on their way to replacing ES (embryonic stem) cells. My answer? No. Not yet. iPS cells are great, but the original notion pushed by some that iPS cells would somehow replace ES cells, which would be
Primary challenges facing iPS cells in late 2012 Read More »
There aren’t that many stem cell blogs out there on the Internet, although the number is growing, and the one that has been around quite a while is called “Repairstemcell” or “The Stem Cell Blog”. Granovsky is a self-proclaimed empowerer of patients and calls himself “the informer”, apparently meaning someone who will guide patients to
David Granovsky of ‘The Stem Cell Blog’ disrespects Christopher Reeve Read More »
The founder of Korean stem cell corporation, RNL Bio, Dr. Jeong-Chan Ra, may be most well-known in the U.S. for his association with Texas Stem Cell Clinic, Celltex, which gave Guv Rick Perry his stem cell transplant. RNL Bio is also the first major company to be sued in U.S. federal court for fraud over
For years now we’ve had a war in the world of stem cells. The war has been primarily centered on embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). The reason I call it a “war” is that opponents of ESCR have declared a “culture war” on ESCR and ESC researchers. I don’t like the term “war”, but if
Update on stem cell culture war: from Pepsi to Personhood & Romney to rogue clinics Read More »
Do you have a question about stem cells? Post it in the comment sections of this blog post and I’ll do my best to answer it. If I don’t know, I’ll look into it. Update: in 2020 I started a patient Q&A series that you can read here. The best comments/questions may end up as
Got questions about stem cells? I’ll answer them. Read More »
I’m a big fan of stem cells. I’m a researcher, but also a patient advocate and educator. I’m someone who favors researching adult, embryonic, and induced pluripotent stem cells (aka iPS cells). They all are worth pursuing and in my opinion have the future potential to be an ethical-basis for helping millions of patients who
Adult stem cells: why I’m really excited, but don’t favor shortcuts Read More »
Sometimes it can get bewildering to try to understand all the different kinds of stem cells. What’s the difference? What makes embryonic stem cells different than adult stem cells than induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells? I can give you technical definitions and you can learn more here in my post “What are stem cells?”, but
The Stem Cell Olympics: a fun way to understand different kinds of stem cells Read More »