Can Google’s new anti-aging company, Calico, have you Googling at age 140? Don’t sell your burial plot just yet. The idea of anti-aging has been around for a very long time and efforts to combat aging have spanned millennia largely without any success so Calico (apparently short for California Life Company, which sounds more like […]
Has anti-aging finally come of age with Google’s Calico? Read More »
What’s the deal with this week’s FDA Warning Letter to 23andMe? First some background. I’m a researcher who studies stem and cancer cell genomics and epigenomics. I’m also a human being who has battled prostate cancer and is curious about my genome. With this background, I decided some time ago to take the plunge and experience what
23andMe and the FDA: Perspectives on Warning Letter Read More »
Yesterday I posted a list of a dozen potential candidates to be considered for the position of the new CIRM President. To be clear, that list is not my list. It is also not CIRM’s list and I’m sure that CIRM’s Search Committee has its own ideas of course. The list in yesterday’s post was
Some More Thoughts on the Search for a New CIRM President Read More »
Who might make a fantastic new CIRM President? The California stem cell community is abuzz with this question. This new President will not only lead CIRM today, but also in all likelihood will steer CIRM in its new incarnation after 2017, what I’ve called CIRM 2.0. At least that would be ideal. CIRM has posted a
Dozen Candidates To Be New CIRM President Read More »
De-extinction is big right now and some of the extinct target creatures are big too like the woolly mammoth. “Let’s bring back these extinct creatures”, say proponents. Wouldn’t it be cool? I have to admit seeing a woolly mammoth, mastodon, or saber tooth tiger would be cool, but such efforts would not be without consequences
Why I oppose de-extinction of woolly mammoths Read More »
I opened the most recent edition of Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and found a striking full-page ad from the FDA. It’s unclear if this is the first ever such advertisement. I have been unable to find a similar one on the Internet at least. Has anyone seen such ads before? The JAMA
Full page JAMA ad from FDA warns docs on foreign drugs Read More »
The current President of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), Dr. Alan Trounson, will be leaving the agency in the near future to have more time with his family back in Australia. As a result, CIRM will need a new President at a critical juncture in its history with only about 4 years of
CIRM Presidential Search Committee Formed to Pick New Leader Read More »
Osiris, a cellular therapy biotech, recently received a so-called “untitled letter” from the FDA. The text of the letter seems on the whole negative in my opinion, while the company’s public reaction to the letter on the other hand could be seen paradoxically as rather cheery. What’s going on here? With Halloween coming, one has
Osiris FDA Letter: Trick or Treat? Read More »
I have made it in one piece to beautiful Banff all the way from Davis, CA for the Till & McCulloch Meeting. Talk about a change of scene. Davis, CA couldn’t be flatter, while Banff is surrounded by beautiful snowy capped mountains. See image at right from the hotel. Wow. I walked over to the
Till & McCulloch Meeting in Banff: The Road Here Read More »
On November 15th the 2013 World Alliance Forum “Future of Stem Cells” will be held in San Francisco and Yamanaka will be there. It looks to be an awesome meeting. The lineup of speakers is frankly stunning and in part the meeting is to congratulate Shinya Yamanaka on winning the Nobel Prize. It is a once in a
Flash contest: win free ticket to see Yamanaka & friends in SFO Read More »