What is the deal with the crazy hullaballoo over the so-called stem cell test tube burger? On the surface, this pseudo-burger sounds kinda cool in a geeky, comic book kind of way, but when I dug just a little deeper, it turns out I’m left asking: where’s the beef? After the burger was mentioned briefly on […]
Where’s the Beef? Reality Check on Test Tube Burger Baloney Read More »
Duane Roth, the Vice-Chair of the California Stem Cell Agency CIRM and the leader of CONNECT, an organization promoting entrepreneurship in the San Diego area, died yesterday. Roth had been in a serious solo cycling accident on July 21. Roth had a long, successful career in biotech including having founded Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp. He was
Tribute to CIRM Vice-Chair, Duane Roth Read More »
One of the more controversial areas in the stem cell field has been over a stem cell type that only a handful of researchers have been able to find and study: very small embryonic-like stem cells or VSELs. These days some are calling them V-cells too. I’ve been getting an increasing number of questions from
What are VSELs and why are more clinics selling them? Read More »
How important is the new development of all chemical reprogramming to make iPS cells? The group led by Hongkui Deng at Peking University in Beijing reported in Science that they used 7 chemicals to make what appear to be mouse iPS cells. I’m hearing a wide range of opinions directly from people in the know. What’s
What do you think of all chemical reprogramming? Take our poll Read More »
Over at Health in the Global Village, Leigh Turner yesterday published an excellent piece updating us all on the latest news on Korean stem cell company RNL BIo (알앤엘바이오) and its leader, Dr. Jeong Chan Ra (라정찬 ). Addition: The story was reported in several Korean news outlets including Hani here. A video here by MBC News of Korea, one
Jeong Chan Ra Arrest: Can RNL Bio (알앤엘바이오) Survive? Read More »
I have some interest in robotic surgery. About three and a half years ago I had surgery for prostate cancer and my surgeon used the da Vinci robotic surgery device made by Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG). At the time, da Vinci seemed new and exciting, but the device and the company have become more well-known
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Gets Problematic FDA Inspection Report Read More »
When you want to both know the real history of the pluripotent stem cell-based biotech industry and perspectives on its future, there are only a handful of people to turn to and one of them is definitely Dr. Michael West, CEO of BioTime. I’m doing a several part series of blog posts on a lengthy
BioTime CEO Mike West Interview Part 2: Geron & hESC Read More »
Is Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) on the road to cure Multiple Sclerosis (MS) using stem cells and specifically MSCs? Some folks seem to think it’s quite possible, but I remain skeptical. Still there have been some interesting developments. ACT has a relatively new patent filing for a mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) product that was just
ACT patent filing for MSCs: of Dancing Mice & Multiple Sclerosis Read More »
Guest post on talk by Jamie Thomson. By Jeanne Loring. On Wednesday afternoon at the ISSCR meeting in Boston, Jamie Thomson gave a talk about the history of human pluripotent stem cells. There were probably only a dozen people in the audience of around 3,000 who were working on human ES cells around the same
Jeanne Loring’s Thoughts on Jamie Thomson ISSCR Talk Read More »
Human cloning is not so far-fetched any more. Cloning of the Star Wars variety where new copies of people (although they would be babies, not adults of course at first) are produced is something I believe that we’ll see in the next 1-2 decades. Why would anyone bother to clone? Fame. Money. Vanity. There are
Concerns on the idea of human cloning for infertility Read More »