Below I’ve listed some papers that are recommended for weekend reading. Enjoy. You can find more recent recommended reads here. Cool new heterochromatin stem cell aging paper in Science from Izpisua Belmonte Lab. ESC apoptosis pathway. An Apela RNA-Containing Negative Feedback Loop Regulates p53-Mediated Apoptosis in Embryonic Stem Cells, paper from Jing Huang lab in […]
Recommended stem cell papers for weekend reading Read More »
By David Brafman (from a stem cell clinic infomercial event). With the vast amount of information about stem cells available to the general public, many misconceptions exist regarding stem cells and their potential applications. Paul and other prominent stem cell scientists have done an excellent job of educating the public about the facts regarding stem
David Brafman: Attending Stem Cell Clinic Infomercial Read More »
There is a big old blind spot in the discussion over germline gene editing in humans: preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). There’s been a lot of talk in 2015 about worries over how gene editing technology such as CRISPR might be used prematurely in the clinic in an unsafe or unethical manner in humans in the
The big blind spot on CRISPR for human embryo editing: PGD Read More »
The Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte group published a Cell paper today on using gene editing to reverse mutations associated with human mitochondrial disease. The paper is Reddy, et al. and is entitled, “Selective Elimination of Mitochondrial Mutations in the Germline by Genome Editing”. The authors report success using TALEN-based gene editing or mitochondrial-direct restriction enzyme (mito-ApaLI)
Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte Cell Paper on Gene Editing for Mitochondrial Disease Read More »
I invited the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Bioheart, Kristin Comella, to do an interview after hearing some buzz that this could be a critical time for the company and that it might have been recently visited by the FDA. Note that Comella not just Bioheart CSO, but also the primary instructor for physician training in stem
Interview with Bioheart CSO, Kristin Comella including on FDA Read More »
What should the stem cell field try to do about cowboy stem cell clinics? By this term I mean those that don’t follow the rules. They shoot stem cells into customers first and ask questions later. I’ve interacted with many patients over the years who are interested in stem cells. This interaction is growing much
Dilemmas When Patients Ponder Cowboy Stem Cell Clinics Read More »
Should we be using the term ‘genetically modified human’ in discussions of heritable use of CRISPR in people? During the still ongoing discussions of genetic modification in the human germline and potentially in actual human beings in the future, an interesting, but difficult question has emerged: What words or names would be most appropriate for
Is ‘genetically modified human’ a loaded name? Read More »
It seems like Fridays are always a good time for reflection. It’s not like the scientist’s week ends on Friday sad to say, but still at least we can pause momentarily TGIF style and reflect on the maelstrom that is our lives, while cracking open another diet Coke or pouring another cup of coffee. This
TGIF: Stem Cell Stream of Consciousness Including CRISPR Read More »
Discussion of concerns over heritable human genetic modification has spiked in 2015. This dialogue is a good thing, but is it in a sense too late? Are genetically modified (GM) people a foregone conclusion? Rumors are swirling that upwards of four papers reporting production of GM human embryos are in various stages of review at high-profile
Genetic Modification of Humans Now Inevitable? Read More »
Got your new mandatory NIH biosketch all done? I didn’t think so. Want some help? Read on. NIH has done research and come up with a new biosketch for all of us to use with our proposals. It’s not optional. Originally it was going to be required for January 2015 proposals, but now it must
10 tips on mandatory new NIH biosketch & example Read More »