Just how often do press releases (PR) get science wrong? A new paper came out from the lab of Matthias Lutolf in Nature Materials that seems interesting. Using a special matrix, reprogramming of cells reportedly worked better. Good stuff. However, a (PR) from the home institution of EPFL and media pick up on the story used […]
Squeeze PR on stem cell paper evokes STAP cell bad vibrations, gets corrected Read More »
It’s time for The Niche 4th annual Stem Cell Person of the Year Award process to start. Please send me your nominations for the person you think had the biggest positive impact in the stem cell and regenerative medicine world in 2015. This award is unique in a number of ways. For example, anyone in
Stem Cell Person of the Year Award 2015: Nominations Open Read More »
There’s a growing stream of stem cell good news of late. Stem cell biotech, TiGenix, reported encouraging Phase 3 allogeneic results on stem cells. A big milestone. I can’t wait to see the actual data. Its product, Cx601, has so far been safe and effective for perianal fistulas in Crohn’s disease. See more from Alexey on this. CIRM has funded the largest
Stem cell good news briefs: TiGenix, Asterias, CIRM, Awards, & More Read More »
ISSCR Chat By Michael Cea Jeanne Loring of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California kindly sat down with me at the ISSCR annual meeting for a broad discussion of her history, views on the field and developments in the science. I found Jeanne a refreshing character, as I did a number of others I was
Michael Cea ISSCR chat with Jeanne Loring on stem cell field Read More »
As many of you know, the pioneering, first of its kind IPS cell clinical study in Japan has been suspended as I first blogged about here.2020 Update: I believe a version of this study is ongoing. In the comments section of that blog post there has been a helpful overall discussion that has involved Dr.
Historic turning point for IPS cell field in Japan? Read More »
Masayo Takahashi (高橋 政代) on IPSC Trial for Macular Degeneration By Michael Cea Stem Cell Analyst & Advocate (editor’s note: piece was originally posted on Michael’s blog here; follow Michael on Twitter @msemporda) Masayo Takahashi interview Having followed closely the developments in programs using pluripotent based therapeutics I was fortunate during ISSCR2015 to have the opportunity to
Masayo Takahashi (高橋 政代) on IPSC Trial for Vision Read More »
The path to the clinic is a slow and arduous activity, frustrating not only to the researcher and patient, but investors and biotech companies. Successful clinical translation of technologies requires a balance of science, streamlined translation and funding. To develop fantastic science and then realise the most important components cannot be adapted to the clinical
Biotech Talks #ISSCR2015: StemCells Inc, Semma, ViaCyte, & Le Blanc Read More »
The big stem cell news already this week is the acquisition by Fujifilm of Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) for a whopping $307 million dollars or about $16.50 per CDI share. You can read the press release here. Update: The entity is now known as Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics. It was less than two years ago that CDI did
Was Fujifilm CDI acquisition a good move by the companies? Read More »
A question that has come up with advances in stem cell technology: could same-sex couples have their own biological children? Since Shinya Yamanaka reprogrammed first mouse and then human ordinary cells into powerful pluripotent stem cells, termed induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, back in 2006-2007 many new research avenues have opened up. The impossible suddenly
Are babies from same-sex couples possible? Read More »
Can hearts repair themselves via stem cell mechanisms including possibly their own stem cells? It’s a hot topic question at the center of a big debate in the stem cell field. My inclination at present is that the answer is most likely “no” at this point, but that could change and it’s important to keep
Can hearts fix themselves via stem cells? Read More »