by Stacey Johnson | Aug 25, 2016
Ten years ago today, Japanese scientists Shinya Yamanaka and Kazutoshi Takahashi published a paper announcing the creation of rodent induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, thus pioneering the field of iPS cell technology. They showed that they could convert adult cells...
by Jovana Drinjakovic | Aug 25, 2016
Science fiction became real life in September 2014, when a team of eye surgeons in Japan transplanted a body part, grown entirely in a dish, into the eye of a patient suffering from an eye disease. The retinal graft came from the patient’s skin cells, raising hopes...
by Holly Wobma | Aug 25, 2016
When you hear the word “stem cell,” I imagine this conjures up the image of cells that are special. Unlike most cells, stem cells can differentiate into other cell types. They hold the promise of curing many diseases, and thus they are continually the source of hype...
by David Kent | Aug 25, 2016
One of the most memorable moments of my young scientist career was a Keystone Conference in February 2006 in Whistler, BC where I first heard Professor Shinya Yamanaka describe the successful reprogramming of a skin cell into an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)....
by Stacey Johnson | Aug 19, 2016
If scientists are already doing the seemingly impossible and making ears out of apples, surely artificially manufacturing actual apples is a piece of cake. Enter the team at Food Ink. As per the website, these alphabetized “architects, artists, chefs, designers,...
by Stacey Johnson | Aug 18, 2016
In case you missed it: Signals is hosting its first “blog carnival” on August 25, 2016. What is that you ask? Think of a blog carnival as a single venue hosting a variety of entertainment. In this case, the “entertainment” are posts from influential bloggers across...
by Stacey Johnson | Aug 12, 2016
Andrew Pelling is a self-described biohacker (and also the Canada research chair in experimental cell mechanics at the University of Ottawa) who makes ears out of apples and sees inspiration all around him – but science fiction (The Matrix, Little Shop of Horrors) is...
by Sara M. Nolte | Aug 8, 2016
If you’ve been on social media lately, you’ve probably come across various campaigns looking for stem cell donors. You may even know someone who needs a stem cell transplant. It is increasingly apparent that there is a demand for stem cell donors for those in need....
by Stacey Johnson | Aug 5, 2016
Andrew Pelling, University of Ottawa, is a biohacker. Biohacking refers to the application of IT hacks to biological systems – most prominently, the human body – but also the entire biosphere. Biohacking encompasses a wide spectrum of DIY IT projects and...
by David Kent | Aug 2, 2016
Last week, a good friend of mine forwarded me a correspondence from the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). I was expecting to read about a new drug being tested in clinical trials or maybe a neat scientific perspective on leukemia biology, but what I got instead...
Comments