Archive for the ‘Commentary’ Category
Women in science: a fairy tale?
. If you have read any of my previous blogs, you will know that I am not a scientist. From my bio, you will learn that I’m a communications professional, but it doesn’t state that I’m also the mother of two daughters. My almost 10-year-old says she wants to be a scientist when she grows…Read more
Why research? The personal foundations of cancer research
. My interest (maybe even fascination) in cancer began when I was six years old: I was diagnosed with acute myeloblastic leukemia (a cancer of white blood cells), and am now able to say that I am a childhood cancer survivor. After realizing that I was no longer interested in going to medical school to…Read more
Life and death: The human face of the cell therapy industry
. Within the past few weeks, we have all lost someone who has impacted our lives. And this I can guarantee. On Monday 8th April 2013, I woke up, grabbed my tennis bag and headed for a morning hit. In the car, I heard the lacquered voice of the BBC’s John Humphrys report the death…Read more
Clinical trials: a valid or fallacious metric of industry progress?
. Part 5 in Cell Therapy Industry 2027 series A short time ago, I had the immense pleasure of driving through the Napa Valley bathed in a warm pastel sunset. The view was accompanied by a two-chord soundtrack: the reassuring chinking of several bottles of the region’s finest and an American radio show discussing scientific…Read more
BioTime: A new Geron, without a decade of baggage
Avid watchers of the stem cell and regenerative medicine market have no doubt heard of Geron selling its stem cell assets to BioTime. Nature covered it in some detail last month, and the transaction itself follows a Letter of Intent announced last November, which valued it at approximately $71 million. The transaction leaves Geron to…Read more
Mind the patents when growing soybeans or stem cells
GMO soybeans might have lessons for cell patents. Photo: Philip Dean via Flickr . At first glance, you wouldn’t think that a 76-year old soybean farmer from Indiana would have something in common with microbiologists, but Vernon Hugh Bowman brought back memories of my undergraduate genetics courses and growing E. coli on antibiotic-laden petri dishes….Read more