Can Google’s new anti-aging company, Calico, have you Googling at age 140? Don’t sell your burial plot just yet. The idea of anti-aging has been around for a very long time and efforts to combat aging have spanned millennia largely without any success so Calico (apparently short for California Life Company, which sounds more like […]
Has anti-aging finally come of age with Google’s Calico? Read More »
Yesterday I posted a list of a dozen potential candidates to be considered for the position of the new CIRM President. To be clear, that list is not my list. It is also not CIRM’s list and I’m sure that CIRM’s Search Committee has its own ideas of course. The list in yesterday’s post was
Some More Thoughts on the Search for a New CIRM President Read More »
Who might make a fantastic new CIRM President? The California stem cell community is abuzz with this question. This new President will not only lead CIRM today, but also in all likelihood will steer CIRM in its new incarnation after 2017, what I’ve called CIRM 2.0. At least that would be ideal. CIRM has posted a
Dozen Candidates To Be New CIRM President Read More »
De-extinction is big right now and some of the extinct target creatures are big too like the woolly mammoth. “Let’s bring back these extinct creatures”, say proponents. Wouldn’t it be cool? I have to admit seeing a woolly mammoth, mastodon, or saber tooth tiger would be cool, but such efforts would not be without consequences
Why I oppose de-extinction of woolly mammoths Read More »
I opened the most recent edition of Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and found a striking full-page ad from the FDA. It’s unclear if this is the first ever such advertisement. I have been unable to find a similar one on the Internet at least. Has anyone seen such ads before? The JAMA
Full page JAMA ad from FDA warns docs on foreign drugs Read More »
Osiris, a cellular therapy biotech, recently received a so-called “untitled letter” from the FDA. The text of the letter seems on the whole negative in my opinion, while the company’s public reaction to the letter on the other hand could be seen paradoxically as rather cheery. What’s going on here? With Halloween coming, one has
Osiris FDA Letter: Trick or Treat? Read More »
What is “radically deterministic” cellular reprogramming? Jacob Hanna’s lab recently published a very high profile Nature paper on nearly 100% efficient iPS cell formation based on targeting a factor called Mbd3. This super efficiency is a major departure from past reported efficiencies. This morning here at the Till & McCulloch Stem Cell Meeting in Banff,
Jacob Hanna on Radically Deterministic Reprogramming @TMM2013 Read More »
On November 15th the 2013 World Alliance Forum “Future of Stem Cells” will be held in San Francisco. It looks to be an awesome meeting. The lineup of speakers is frankly stunning and in part the meeting is to congratulate Shinya Yamanaka on winning the Nobel Prize. It is a once in a lifetime kind of event. I
Flash contest: win free ticket to see Yamanaka & friends in SFO Read More »
Alan Trounson, President of CIRM and CIRM itself both announced late this afternoon that Trounson will be leaving the California Stem Cell Agency. Trounson is leaving CIRM to spend more time with his family, who are literally located around the world in Australia. In an email to the CIRM community, Trounson said: “I need to
CIRM President Trounson To Leave the Agency Read More »
Unfortunately California Guv Jerry Brown vetoed AB714, the Roman Reed Act that would have greatly supported spinal cord research. Roman Reed is of course a top stem cell patient advocate and driving force in research. Roman received my Stem Cell Person of the Year Award last year (See picture at right). The contest for the
Interview with Roman Reed on Guv Grown’s Veto of AB714 Spinal Cord Injury Research Bill Read More »