by Natasha Davie | Aug 16, 2012
The health-care landscape is changing: the previous model of the blockbuster pharmaceutical is being challenged by new therapies that have the potential to offer more effective treatments. In this new contribution to Signals Blog, I describe the present landscape for...
by Angela C. H. McDonald | Aug 13, 2012
It takes precision, focus and persistence to perfect the art of origami. So perhaps it is no accident that researchers have needed to apply the same skills to overcome challenges in siRNA delivery, right down to the folding. A couple of years ago, my fellow blogger...
by Michelle Ly | Jul 31, 2012
Chances are you know someone with autism spectrum disorder, or have, at the very least, been exposed to it in the media. Films like I am Sam, Rain Main, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and well-publicized stories such as that of Hollywood starlet Jenny McCarthy and her...
by Paul Krzyzanowski | Jul 17, 2012
Faced with patent shortages to replace flagship products, Big Pharma is increasing investments in smaller biotech companies to capture innovations early. Most new companies wither and die if they run out of initial funds before they’re profitable. In biotech,...
by Holly Wobma | Jul 11, 2012
My guess…is an HSC (hematopoietic stem cell). Because although these cells aren’t known for their civil disobedience, they do have a certain knack for making people more tolerant. In fact, that’s why Dr. Megan Sykes, Director of the Columbia Center for Translational...
by Michelle Ly | Jul 4, 2012
With rain, rain and more rain in the forecast, I was more than happy to escape wet and dreary Vancouver and attend the 18th International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) annual meeting, which took place in Seattle, Washington last month. The weather was (slightly)...
by Lisa Willemse | Jun 29, 2012
With contributions from Michael Rudnicki. If you’re following recent announcements in the field, then you may know about the study published this week in Diabetes that details the use of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to reverse diabetes type 1 in a mouse...
by Angela C. H. McDonald | Jun 29, 2012
Pluripotency describes the potential of a stem cell to differentiate into any cell type in the body. Embryonic stem cells derived from the early pre-implantation embryo are pluripotent as well as their engineered counterparts, iPSCs (induced pluripotent stem cells)....
by Angela C. H. McDonald | Jun 26, 2012
Hiromitsu Nakauchi has a vision for regenerative medicine. In this vision, he sees a renewable source of human organs for transplantation that are grown within the bodies of farm animals. Here’s how it works: pluripotent stem cells would be injected into an early...
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