The founder of Korean stem cell corporation, RNL Bio, Dr. Jeong-Chan Ra, may be most well-known in the U.S. for his association with Texas Stem Cell Clinic, Celltex, which gave Guv Rick Perry his stem cell transplant. RNL Bio is also the first major company to be sued in U.S. federal court for fraud over […]
Francisco Morales and Lawrence Stowe, have pleaded guilty to federal charges related to dubious stem cell treatments. The pair pled guilty to conspiracy charges related to introducing “misbranded and unapproved new drugs into interstate commerce”. The drugs in question? Stem cells. Patrick J. Holland of the FDA said “the FDA is committed to investigating those
Stem cell frauds Morales and Stowe plead guilty to federal charges: who’s next? Read More »
For years now we’ve had a war in the world of stem cells. The war has been primarily centered on embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). The reason I call it a “war” is that opponents of ESCR have declared a “culture war” on ESCR and ESC researchers. I don’t like the term “war”, but if
Update on stem cell culture war: from Pepsi to Personhood & Romney to rogue clinics Read More »
The stem cell world is getting more complicated. There are more good guys and bad guys out there than ever. In the Old West, at least as portrayed in the old movies I used to watch as a kid, the bad guy often had a black hat and the good guy a white hat. In
Who’s who? How to tell the stem cell good guys from the bad guys Read More »
There has been a lot of attention about a Sutter clinical trial to use adult stem cells for the treatment of autism. I did a post on it here. After more reading, I’m scratching my head even more about the hypothesis at the heart of that trial, but I’m no autism expert. Emily Willingham, who knows
Do you have a question about stem cells? Post it in the comment sections of this blog post and I’ll do my best to answer it. If I don’t know, I’ll look into it. Update: in 2020 I started a patient Q&A series that you can read here. The best comments/questions may end up as
Got questions about stem cells? I’ll answer them. Read More »
I’m a big fan of stem cells. I’m a researcher, but also a patient advocate and educator. I’m someone who favors researching adult, embryonic, and induced pluripotent stem cells (aka iPS cells). They all are worth pursuing and in my opinion have the future potential to be an ethical-basis for helping millions of patients who
Adult stem cells: why I’m really excited, but don’t favor shortcuts Read More »
Sometimes it can get bewildering to try to understand all the different kinds of stem cells. What’s the difference? What makes embryonic stem cells different than adult stem cells than induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells? I can give you technical definitions and you can learn more here in my post “What are stem cells?”, but
The Stem Cell Olympics: a fun way to understand different kinds of stem cells Read More »
I know. I know. Scientists are not supposed to publicly talk about the question of when life begins and about death, but these are kind of important things to talk about and think about, don’t you think? I do. So here goes…. It’s been a very intense, crazy few weeks for me and for many
Some thoughts on life, death, and stem cells Read More »
A few weeks ago the mystery in the neighborhood was a bunch of jumping oak gall, which we didn’t know at the time were millions of tiny galls each with a wasp larva inside doing the mambo and now it is a giant, alien-like fungus in my back yard. We bought our house 6 years
Name that giant, alien-like fungus! Read More »