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 »
When Jacob Hanna says “radically deterministic” cellular reprogramming, what does he mean? 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 &
Jacob Hanna on Radically Deterministic Reprogramming @TMM2013 Read More »
I have made it in one piece to beautiful Banff all the way from Davis, CA for the Till & McCulloch Meeting. Talk about a change of scene. Davis, CA couldn’t be flatter, while Banff is surrounded by beautiful snowy capped mountains. See image at right from the hotel. Wow. I walked over to the
Till & McCulloch Meeting in Banff: The Road Here Read More »
On November 15th the 2013 World Alliance Forum “Future of Stem Cells” will be held in San Francisco and Yamanaka will be there. 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
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 »
How could there be a nose on top of head? We all have heard the expression “eyes on the back of one’s head”, but a nose on top of one’s head? What the heck? A Chinese doctor has apparently grown a new nose on top of a patient’s forehead. The patient had his nose damaged
Doc grows new nose on top of head Read More »
A team at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel led by Jacob Hanna reports today near perfect reprogramming efficiency to make induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by eliminating a single factor called Mbd3 from the cellular equation. On first glance, the Nature article (Rais, et al.) seems to be all about boosting cellular reprogramming efficiency to close
100% reprogramming efficiency reports Jacob Hanna Read More »
Need a new liver, pancreas, or other vital organ, then I’ll 3D print one right up for you…that is in about 10 years. My intern Lakshmi did a great job on her guest piece last week on the promise of 3D printing in stem cell-based bioengineering including organ and tissue production. It’s an incredibly exciting area of
Want to 3D Print Yourself a New Organ? Key Challenges Read More »
When it comes to science communication or “scicomm”, how are scientists doing these days? Scientists want to stay up to speed on all the latest technological developments whether it is new equipment or new methods. To not stay up to speed on these techno innovations would be a huge mistake as a scientist. You might
How to avoid being an anachronism on scicomm Read More »