How are people feeling about STAP stem cells? Lately, not great. With a whopping 790 votes in, the most ever recorded on this blog other than for our annual Stem Cell Person of the Year Award Internet polling, I’ve closed our week 3 STAP stem cell polling. The question in the polls each week have […]
Week 3 STAP stem cell polling reflects quick plunge Read More »
A new article in the major Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, just came out suggest major intellectual property (IP) and patent issues related to stem cells including the new stress induced STAP stem cells. The piece is entitled provocatively enough “Global patent war looms with epoch-making discovery of STAP cells“. That’s strong language. The article begins
Big patent & IP implications or even ‘war’ from STAP stem cells? Read More »
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 »
There was a Twitter buzz yesterday about a Science news story on Korean cloning fraud Woo Suk Hwang’s efforts for redemption in the scientific community. What was the big deal? It turns out to be a peculiar situation. The Science Hwang piece by Dennis Normile, entitled “After Fraud, Korean Cloner Seeks Redemption”, was eerily similar in
Did Clone-Like Nature & Science Pieces Boost Hwang Redemption PR Effort? Read More »
One of the big stem cell-related stories of 2013 was the controversy over the Stamina Foundation in Italy and its potential use of largely untested stem cell products on patients, including mostly children. The winner of my 2013 Stem Cell Person of the Year Award was Dr. Elena Cattaneo and one reason she won was the courage
Nature Slams Controversial Stamina Foundation: A Dangerous Situation Continues Read More »
I’ve been working on a stem cell outreach program for education (SCOPE) the last couple years. The mission of SCOPE is “stem cells not lost in translation”. What is SCOPE? I’ve got a white paper up on key facts and considerations for stem cells in dozens of languages. More than 120,000 people across the globe
Stem Cell Outreach Success in Spanish: ¿Qué son las células madre? Read More »
Each year I make predictions for the stem cell field for the coming year. In today’s post I write about my top 10 stem cell predictions for 2014. You can see my predictions for 2013 here (see predictions for 2011 and 2012 predictions, which are kind of fun to read to see what was on the “mind” of the field
Stem Cell Predictions for 2014 Read More »
Reading these one doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry they are so stupid. “Top researcher: iPS cells ‘probably’ already embryos”. This article was so wrong about so many things that it gives dumb a bad name. “‘Adventurous’ woman sought to carry Neanderthal baby”. Who needs the National Enquirer? “Dana White media scrum: Meniere’s disease cured by
Dumbest stem cell headlines & stories of 2013 Read More »
Recently I posted a piece on a list of stem cell journals that is growing longer by the day. Below for fun I’ve made up some new names of stem cell journals possibly of the future. I’ve also in some cases included commentary. I have a feeling that some of these may become real in coming years
The funny list of phony & possible future stem cell journals Read More »
I have to admit a small fascination for tabloid, wildly over the top stories about stem cells. Maybe it’s just that I need a good laugh to escape the black hole of academia at times even if only momentarily? Of course some crazy stem cell stories reflect actually dangerous situations for patients, but that doesn’t
TGIF: Craziest stem cell stories of the week Read More »