Search Results for: geron

Interview with BioTime CEO Michael West Part 1: a little stem cell history

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It was my pleasure recently to  talk at length with Dr. Michael West, CEO of the Stem Cell Biotech, BioTime (BTX). West has been at the helm of BioTime since 2007 and is a true pioneer in the stem cell field. He founded Geron (GERN) and was a top leader at Advanced Cell Technology (ACT; stock …

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Jeanne Loring’s Thought-Provoking Guest Post on Jamie Thomson’s ISSCR Talk

By Jeanne Loring. On Wednesday afternoon at the ISSCR meeting in Boston, Jamie Thomson gave a talk about the history of human pluripotent stem cells. There were probably only a dozen people in the audience of around 3,000 who were working on human ES cells around the same time that Jamie and Joseph Itskovitz-Eldor were …

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Jeanne Loring interview: optimism on clinical translation of IPS cells

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One of my favorite stem cell scientists is Jeanne Loring of Scripps. She does great science and when you ask her questions, she frankly states her opinions and is clearly a gifted educator at heart too. Below is a Q&A interview I did with Jeanne on key issues of clinical translation of iPS cells. You …

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As iPS cell studies in humans approach, accessible relevant pre-clinical data remains minimal

IPS cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, Knoepfler lab, stained for TRA-1-60, an ES cell marker., where do stem cells come from?

When are iPS cell-based therapies ready to be tested in actual people? It’s the million or perhaps even billion dollar question of today in the stem cell field. I realize that perhaps it is also a dangerous question, politically-speaking, for me to ask in a public forum, but patient lives as well as potentially the …

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Some thoughts on the Araki Nature iPS cell paper: an advance, but a few key caveats

I’ve already talked with science writer Ed Yong about the new Nature paper Araki, et al. (you can read Ed’s well-written piece here and you can another one on it by another one of my favorite writers, Monya Baker here), which suggests that iPS cells don’t trigger much in the way of an immune response. I …

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A great day for stem cell research: more on SCOTUS & details on BioTime news

Today the Supreme Court announced it would not hear the Sherley v Sebelius case, ending the court battle that has left embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) in what I’ve called a “big chill”. This is great news. It is all over the mainstream media. Even the rampant anti-science, pro-lifers have declared defeat. I’m not going …

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Predictions for the stem cell field for 2013: but first how did I do predicting for 2012?

Every year I make predictions about what the following year will bring us in the stem cell field. For example, last year I made some predictions for 2012 and I shortly will do a post on my predictions for 2013. First, how did I do with my predictions for this year, which I made in …

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Stem Cell Person of the Year Finalists: time to vote

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Here on The Niche I’m giving out a Stem Cell Person of the Year Award for 2012 along with all my other annual awards (e.g. best stem cell journal, paper, blog, comic, activist, etc). 2020 update: you can see future winners of the award here. The Person of the Year winner will get recognition for …

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Advanced Cell Technology (ACTC) announces plan to make iPS cell-derived platelets: some thoughts

Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) is well into clinical trials for macular degeneration (the leading cause of blindness) using human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-based retinal pigmented epithelial cells (RPE). To date, the trials suggest the products are safe. Efficacy? We don’t know. I am cautiously hopeful, but it is frustrating to know that most clinical trials …

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Are iPS cells being rushed to the clinic or has their time come?

The iPS cell field has run fast and furious over the past 6 years reaching a big milestone surprisingly quickly on Monday with Shinya Yamanaka winning the Nobel Prize. But is  the field going too fast? In August I argued that iPS cells are not quite ready for primetime (i.e. clinical trial studies). Now in …

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