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 […]
Are iPS cells being rushed to the clinic or has their time come? Read More »
The great news of Yamanaka and Gurdon getting the Nobel Prize for cellular reprogramming is still resonating in the stem cell field. My heartfelt congratulations to two amazing biologists! Also still ringing in my ears from so many people contacting me about what is becoming a somewhat infamous “empty” third slot that the Nobel Committee
I believe and have argued for years that Shinya Yamanaka, the discoverer of induced pluripotent stem cells (aka iPS cells) deserves the Nobel Prize. I’m very glad today that he received it. Some readers may find it a bit ironic that I believe so strongly in this way since over the years I have often
Why Yamanaka deserved the Nobel Prize for induced pluripotent stem cells Read More »
Stem cell revolutionaries Drs. Shinya Yamanaka and John Gurdon have won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Gurdon cloned for the first animal, a frog, and Yamanaka produced induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a kind of stem cell with the power of pluripotency, but derived from ordinary non-stem cells. Gurdon’s work was based
Nobel Prize 2012 for stem cells to Yamanaka & Gurdon: why only 2? Read More »
Top stem cell meetings and conferences. If you want me to post your meeting, email me or post a comment (I’ll delete the comment and add the meeting to the main page). Meetings from 2012 can be found here. My listing of these meetings is not an endorsement of them, but is provided for informational
Stem Cell Meetings & Conferences 2013 Read More »
My lab just published a somewhat provocative paper (still in unproofed form at this point) arguing that iPS cells are very similar in some ways to cancer cells. How did we get to that conclusion (discussed in this post today, part 1 of the story) and what’s the back story on this paper (discussed in a later
iPS cells are similar to cancer cells: part 1 of discussion of new paper Read More »
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a relatively common, often debilitating illness, which has a major impact on the people of the world. In the U.S. alone, COPD costs the country almost $50 billion a year not to mention untold suffering. Most of us know someone who has COPD. COPD is an umbrella term that
Stem cells for COPD including emphysema: are we there yet? Read More »
There aren’t that many stem cell blogs out there on the Internet, although the number is growing, and the one that has been around quite a while is called “Repairstemcell” or “The Stem Cell Blog”. Granovsky is a self-proclaimed empowerer of patients and calls himself “the informer”, apparently meaning someone who will guide patients to
David Granovsky of ‘The Stem Cell Blog’ disrespects Christopher Reeve Read More »
The Texas Tribune held a liveblog regarding Health & Human Services at festival they were sponsoring. A particularly testy, interesting exchange on stem cells occurred (see starting around 2:51PM) involving Andrea Ferrenz of Celltex and Dr. Leigh Turner of University of Minnesota as well as Texas State Rep. Rick Hardcastle and David Bales of Texans
Stem cell shootout at the Texas Trib Festival including Celltex Read More »
Next month will be the 1st Houston Stem Cell Summit organized by Robin Young, who also organizes the New York Stem Cell Summit. I’ve been a bit tough on this meeting for a perceived lack of diversity in their program of speakers. I interviewed Robin Young (RY) about the meeting and found his answers quite interesting
Intriguing interview with Robin Young, Organizer of Houston Stem Cell Summit Read More »