What’s big tent science? As a stem cell scientist I hear all the time about how the pipeline from the lab to the clinic is incredibly slow and terribly inefficient. Meanwhile millions of people have conditions that the current state-of-the-art medicine cannot effectively treat. Somehow we need to make a fundamental change to improve this […]
Big tent science: new ideas about clinical trials Read More »
I’m still standing at my standing work station. More than two months ago I posted about how I was switching to a standing work station. I was just a few weeks into it and at that point it was going pretty well. However, my feet were hurting at the end of the day and I
My standing work station at 10 weeks: the biggest surprise Read More »
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 »
It’s great to talk to Irv Weissman. It has been a week to think about mentors and I posted somewhat autobiographically on how to find and be a good mentor a few days ago. Also along these lines, I asked one of the great mentors of all time, Irv Weissman, about his early career and
Irv Weissman, his early career & mentors that made the difference Read More »
I have in the past posted advice to new faculty and also top 10 advice list for the academic job hunt, but today I wanted to specifically talk about mentoring. Also, stay tuned for a special post later this week with an autobiographical section from Irv Weissman on his early career and who his key
How to find and be a good mentor? Read More »
We have a running series here on The Niche on the Republican candidates including Rick Perry for the GOP nomination for President for the 2012 Election. I blogged about Romney here, Huntsman here, and talked about Tex Guv Perry’s own stem cell transplant here. I also discussed the Republican field more generally in my podcast
If Rick Perry is Prez what’s impact on stem cell research? Read More »
Recently I polled my readers on how they make iPS cells and what the best method is in their opinion. The surprising results to date are above. The first thing that is striking is how dominant the Yamanaka method remains after 5 years. Despite scads of papers reporting new methods that are supposedly better in
Striking results from iPS cell poll Read More »
A year ago I did a post on scientific peer review and the dreaded Dr. No, but have things gotten any better? No. From everyone I have talked to, the answer would seem to be quite the contrary–things continue to move in the wrong direction. If you are not a scientist, but care about stem cell
I Still Hate Your Paper: Dr. No and the Editors that are ruining Peer Review Read More »
Stem Cell Tourism is a blanket term now used to refer to patients receiving non-FDA approved stem cell treatments either by traveling here within the U.S. or more often outside the U.S. Clinics are sprouting up all over the world offering treatments based on stem cells. The science behind these is often non-existent. Most stem
Stem cell tourism disaster coming: my case for caution Read More »
There has been a largely media-fed hullabaloo about the salary for the new Chair of CIRM, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, $400,000. Now don’t get me wrong, that sounds like a lot of money to me personally, but we need to put it in perspective and when we do, the salary is reasonable and
California pays its sports coaches alone more than the entire payroll of CIRM Read More »