We have reached a watershed moment on stem cell tourism. The FBI has gotten very interested in stem cells. In my opinion we are on the cusp of a flood of arrests by the FBI of folks selling illegal stem cell treatments. Selling non-approved FDA stem cell treatments, particular those involving transport of the […]
FBI seems poised for flood of arrests for stem cell tourism Read More »
Irv Weissman’s lab came out with a very intriguing paper in Nature this week on regeneration and something called a blastema. Having a blastema It is not exactly on regenerative medicine of the kind we think about using exogenous stem cells, but more about how we might tap into nature’s own program for regeneration by
If I only had a blastema: obstacles to human regeneration Read More »
With the bewildering amount of news about stem cells, how do we tell the difference between hype and hope? Although the words “hype” and “hope” only differ by one letter, sometimes it is hard to tell them apart in real life, but of course they are very different things. So how do we know when
Stem cell hype: distinguishing it from hope Read More »
Periodically we do updates on the iPS cell field and now seems like a good time. Where do things stand? Here’s my top 5 list of action items for the iPS cell field in the coming year. 5.) Methods on the brain. A significant fraction, some would argue too high a fraction, of iPS cell
Key iPS cell action items Read More »
U.S. Federal Judge Royce Lamberth dismissed the lawsuit of two self-proclaimed “adult stem cell” researchers against the government to block federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. (update: you may find a 2020 take on this whole saga to be of interest). Lamberth was the one who originally seemed to buy into the arguments of
Interpreting Judge’s Embryonic Stem Cell Ruling Read More »
After my post 2 months ago about the pressure I have received to stop doing this stem cell blog, I have been flooded with positive feedback (including by some of the top bigwigs in the stem cell field who chose to remain anonymous) and I have been inundated with questions. They had many different comments,
Who wants to shut down this stem cell blog and why? Read More »
I believe that stem cells may at some point allow people to live slightly longer, maybe a couple years on average. However, I think they have the potential to dramatically increase the quality of life during the time we are alive. My colleague Amy Adams over at the CIRM research blog had a great post
Portraying sci-fi about stem cells and aging as reality: quotes from Aubrey de Grey Read More »
How can I make money from stem cells? Someone recently asked me this question and more often I get asked “Which stem cell companies do YOU like as a stem cell scientist?” Just today an article went out that said that the global market for stem cell products will be $65 billion by 2015. That’s
How to make money from stem cells Read More »
Today, I am launching a new effort called Stem Cell Outreach Program for Education (SCOPE). I think stem cell technology will transform medicine across the globe, but it will take a concerted effort to make certain that stem cell-based therapies do not become a type of medicine only available to the relatively wealthy or predominantly available
Launching SCOPE: Stem Cell Outreach Program for Education Read More »
There has been a lot of publicity about the reported stem cell treatment of NY Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colon. According to several sources, Colon received his treatment in his native Dominican Republic. Major League Baseball reportedly seems most concerned about this case, at least publicly, because human growth hormone (hGH) might have been used in
Stem cell sports medicine: Bartolo Colon Read More »