Every year I look into my stem cell crystal ball and make a top 10 list of stem cell predictions for the coming year. My predictions for 2015 will be coming up soon and I may bump them up to 20 predictions instead of 10 because there’s so much going on in the field. Stay […]
Stem cell crystal ball: how did my 2014 predictions fare? Read More »
For the worlds of biology and cell biology including the stem cell field more specifically, the holidays came early with some fantastic news. Philanthropist and Microsoft co-Founder Paul Allen will give $100 million to form a new institute focused on cell biology in Seattle. The Allen Institute for Cell Science has an ambitious mission dedicated to
Founding of The Allen Institute for Cell Science Read More »
A hot topic in biomedical sciences is converting white “bad” fat into brown “good” fat. The latter type of adipose is viewed more positively because it seems to be associated with a relatively metabolically more active, leaner state. Could we somehow convert white adipose to brown adipose and in so doing have a beneficial effect
Harvard Predicts Fat Burning Stem Cell Pill To Replace Exercise Read More »
The list of stem cell journals seems to grow longer every day. In fact, the list is so long and some of the names kind of funny that it inspires coming up with a slew of satirical and nonsensical stem cell journals. I’m betting that some of these (the ones listed first) may be thought up
The nonsensical list of stem cell journals Read More »
What are super cells? Guest post by Lisa Willemse Last month, on this blog, Paul wrote an article about loopholes in the clinicaltrials.gov database that allows for-profit companies to advertise their “therapies” under the guise of a registered clinical trial. This is a real concern for our community, especially those among us who have recommended
Super Cells exhibit and why we bother with public outreach Read More »
Looking for a stem cell book that is clear and tells the real story of stem cells? Take a look at my book, Stem Cells: An Insider’s Guide. It is a broad look at the exciting stem cell field, warts and all. I’ve written about the types of stem cells, what goes on in research labs studying these
How does one go about cheating death? Who doesn’t want to cheat death? I know I certainly do. Can stem cells help many people in the immediate future to escape death (pictured here in personified form as Death t from Wikipedia)? Recent headlines on new stem cell-related clinical developments would make you think so and
The cheating death excitation Read More »
Dear UK Parliament and Science and Technology Committee, I am writing to you about your deliberations on “mitochondrial donation” (also known as 3-parent technology) intended for the purpose of preventing heritable mitochondrial disorders. I am concerned about the Department of Health’s recent draft regulations that would allow 3-parent experiments to go forward and the possibility that the UK
Open letter to UK Parliament: avoid historic mistake on rushing 3-parent technology Read More »
The STAP cell mess that began in January of this year has in some ways quieted down. In a broader sense, I believe that STAP is now and will be in the future viewed as a scandal that revealed some less than ideal aspects to the world of biomedical science and publishing. Where does this
STAP Cell Update: STAP-like paper, Real Origin of STAP cells Read More »
The BioTime subsidiary, Asterias, has received FDA approval for a combined Phase I/IIa clinical trial of OPC1 for treating spinal cord injury. BioTime (BTX) and Asterias (ASTY) have picked up the portfolio of the former Geron clinical trial using oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPC). Asterias also acquired a second element from Geron in the form of a lung
Interview with Jane Lebkowski on Asterias FDA-approved Stem Cell Trial Read More »