I recently met the CEO of NeoStem, Dr. Robin Smith, at the 2012 World Stem Cell Summit in Florida. We had a great talk and I invited Dr. Smith to do an interview for my blog. She agreed and has provided very frank answers to my questions, some of which I think were very difficult […]
Interview with NeoStem CEO Robin Smith Part 1 Read More »
Sometimes a stem cell cartoon has more impact than words. With growing pressure, including political pressure on the FDA, to deregulate the point-of-care, for-profit stem cell clinic industry, one can only imagine a future in which deregulation has taken its natural course…..that’s what I’ve done in the political cartoon above. A “double shot” takes on
Cartoon on the future of stem cell deregulation Read More »
How seriously do patients consider stem cell clinical trials? This is the first in a new series of posts I’m doing in lessons I’ve learned from the ever-increasing number of patients who contact me directly or are readers of this blog who make great comments. Today’s post is focused on the lack of availability of
Lessons from patients: stem cell clinical trials unlikely option for most patients Read More »
What is the Model stem cell patient advocate? I deal with many patient advocates and that is one of my favorite parts of my job. They are wonderful! However some go above and beyond the call of duty and are model advocates in my opinion. Others do some great things, but also some negative things
Model stem cell patient advocate: what are the key elements of success? Read More »
I’m doing this series called “The Elephant in the Lab” where I discuss controversial or taboo laboratory topics that people are usually too afraid to publicly discuss. I started with iPS cells (for a description and definition of iPS cells go here) and now have updated this post for 2013 because the field is changing rapidly. iPS
Taboo topics about iPS cells: updated for 2013 Read More »
The Knoepfler Lab 2012 Stem Cell Person of the Year is Roman Reed. Congratulations, Roman Reed! Roman made a tremendous difference in 2012 in many ways. One of the most notable was catalyzing the TJ Atchison Spinal Cord Injury Research Act in Alabama, which provides $400,000/year in funding for research. Of course, TJ and many
Stem Cell Person of the Year 2012: Roman Reed Read More »
Businessweek just published a very long, interesting article on Celltex by Susan Berfield yesterday. I was happy to talk with Susan at length about the key issues and be quoted in the article. See image at left of two key Celltex leaders, David Eller, CEO of Celltex, and Stan Jones above (Photograph by Thomas Prior
Nuggets and pyrite in Businessweek article on Celltex Read More »
In previous years I’ve done yearly predictions for the coming year’s events in the stem cell world (see predictions for 2011 and 2012 predictions). I did pretty well in my predicting stem cell events for this year (see analysis here) scoring a respectable 70%. Isn’t that a C-?,you might ask. No, when it comes to
My stem cell predictions for 2013 Read More »
More and more often I find myself chatting with reporters and science writers about stem cells. They want to know more for background on articles on topics ranging from core stem cell scientific issues to stem cell clinics. Over time I’ve realized I’ve been telling reporters and science writers some consistent things that amount to
Reporters & sci-writers guide to interviewing stem cell clinics: key questions Read More »
I recently attend a conference in Florida called The World Stem Cell Summit. It was very enjoyable and unique in that it brings together and is open to all constituents of the stem cell world. I gave a couple talks and did an “expert” luncheon at this meeting, but what I enjoyed most was talking
Perfect storm dodged: what are three key challenges for stem cell field going into 2013? Read More »