In two Nature papers (here and here) published today researchers report the astounding finding of reprogramming differentiated cells back to a pluripotent or even totipotent state simply by exposing the cells to extreme environmental stress, creating cells they called STAP cells. Update: see more thoughts on STAP stem cells here. STAP cells: stressing the cell […]
Review of Obokata STAP cells Nature papers Read More »
Tonight, President Obama will give his “State of the Union” annual address on how our country is doing. I’m guessing he will say the state of the union is positive, but with challenges. What is the state of the union for stem cells in America today? Overall I think it’s extremely encouraging and the field
Stem Cell State of the Union Read More »
The below is an excerpt from my book, Stem Cells: An Insider’s Guide. I hope you enjoy this excerpt and the book, which I think is a really good deal at under $27 paperback or under $17 for E-book version. Having our innovation and ethics too In the stem cell field you can have it
Book Excerpt: Stem Cell For-Profit Good Citizen Biotechs Read More »
The Oregon State Medical Board took emergency action to suspend the medical license of Dr. Kenneth Welker of Eugene, Oregon on Thursday. Update: Unfortunately, the Associate Press (AP) story on this topic (discussed more below) contains numerous important mistakes including thoroughly mixing up embryonic, adult, and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). Keep that in mind. Also, sadly
Emergency Suspension of Stem Cell Clinic Doc Kenneth Welker Read More »
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