In the comments section of a recent post on adult stem cell treatment safety on this blog, the CEO of RNL Europe, Glenn McGee made the philosophical statement that “silence kills science”. It’s an interesting thought and I think to some extent there is truth in it. Openness, data-sharing, dialogue…these are all good things. In […]
CIRM Board Members continue to discuss the proposed changes in response to the IOM report (see pic above). There seems to be a slight majority in favor of the proposed changes amongst the board, however several board members are saying they need more time to consider the proposed changes and are uncomfortable voting today. As
CIRM Board: Will it hold a quick shot vote today on dramatic changes? Read More »
Recently, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) conducted a review of the California Stem Cell Agency, CIRM. IOM has now released a quite lengthy report that makes a number of recommendations on various issues. You can also read a short summary here. Unfortunately, I think that many of the IOM recommendations would be harmful to CIRM
IOM misses the boat on CIRM board Read More »
I deal with many patient advocates and that is one of my favorite parts of my job. They are wonderful! However some go above and beyond the call of duty and are model advocates in my opinion. Others do some great things, but also some negative things such as attacking the FDA publicly, which serves
The model of a patient advocate: what are the key elements of success? Read More »
The University of California (UC), a truly wonderful organization, seems to have made a misstep with its new logo. Below on the left is the old logo and on the right is the new logo. I did a poll here that got a huge response on what people thought the new symbol represented. Just 2%
Who is Peter Nygård? A few days ago at the World Stem Cell Summit prior to the awards dinner there was a social gathering. This kind of thing is usually a good opportunity for more dialogue. When I got there I noticed two very famous people having what appeared to be an intense meeting of
Peter Nygård anti-aging guru draws a crowd at WSCS2012 Read More »
A scientist named Dr. Rongxiang Xu has, according to the newspaper The Australian, sued the Nobel Prize Committee for giving the award to Yamanaka and Gurdon and not him. Xu is quoted in the article that he “discovered ‘regenerative cells’ in 1984. The suit filed in S. California, alleges libel and unfair competition. The Australian
Chinese scientist sues Nobel Committee for defamation over awards to Yamanaka and Gurdon Read More »
Three years ago I found myself in a tough spot to put it mildly with a prostate cancer diagnosis at age 42. In October 2009 I had a mildly elevated PSA test result (see more on that below) leading to a prostate biopsy. At the end of that month I had just received the news
Thoughts on prostate cancer…3 years out Read More »
Swahili Seli shina ni nini? Mwili wa binadamu una mamia ya seli (chembechembe hai) za aina tofauti zenye umuhimu kiafya. Seli hizi zina jukumu la kuendesha mifumo mbalimbali ya miili yetu, kwa mfano, kuendesha mapigo ya moyo, kuwezesha fikra akilini, usafishaji wa damu kwenye figo, kutengeneza ngozi mpya, na kadhalika. Kazi ya kipekee ya seli
Seli shina ni nini? Read More »
The big scandal about alleged, later mostly recanted transplants of iPS cells (for more on iPS cells see here) into human patients centered on one fellow named Hisashi Moriguchi. For more on the case see here. Clearly Moriguchi is to blame for his lies. The paper Yomiuri is also to blame for splashing the unverified