Right Turn: Boldly going where no one has gone before

by Stacey Johnson | Oct 30, 2015

More than 450 people were in Toronto, Canada, this week to attend the 2015 Till & McCulloch Meetings. As you would expect from Canada’s premier stem cell conference, there was great science, interesting debates, multiple awards, talks by industry and lots of...

Update from the Clinic: September

by Mark Curtis | Oct 27, 2015

Welcome to your Update from the Clinic for the month of September. OncoSec Medical released some initial data from its Phase 1/2 study investigating ImmunoPulse IL-12 DNA in a rare skin cancer. Pluristem and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases...

Right Turn: Stem cell flash mobs and old favourites

by Stacey Johnson | Oct 23, 2015

If you are a loyal reader of Right Turn (thank you!) then you will know that I scour the Internet looking for unique, thought-provoking, clever, peculiar (with a mega star thrown in to the mix), educational, funny, odd, intriguing – I could go on – items to feature....

Studying the brain needs an “open mind”

by Hamideh Emrani | Oct 21, 2015

Another in the series: “What Drives Research in the Field of Biomaterials?” The amazingly complex system of the brain, and its network of many different cell types interacting and functioning together, has always been “top of mind” – pardon the pun – for many...

Cell Therapy Deal Review: September

by Mark Curtis | Oct 20, 2015

. Welcome to your Cell Therapy Deal Review for the month of September. Aduro Biotech went the way of Juno and Kite and bought an antibody discovery platform. Intrexon and ZIOPHARM entered into an agreement to develop a novel Treg-based immunotherapy for GvHD. Kite...

Right Turn: Sparking STEM cells interest at Super Cells

by Erin Sugar | Oct 16, 2015

. Walking through the doors of MaRS Discovery District’s Phase II building in Toronto, Canada brings visitors face to face with Super Cells: The Power of Stem Cells, a free, award-winning exhibition with the purpose of educating children and teens, ages 4-14, about...

CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing: Is truth becoming stranger than fiction?

by Nicole Kuchinsky | Oct 15, 2015

Last week, a Nature News article reported that the Harvard geneticist George Church had modified over 60 genes in pig embryos using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing. I’m sure you’re expecting my scientific perspective on the significance of this news in the context of the...

Right Turn: What we can learn from a dancing doctor

by Erin Sugar | Oct 9, 2015

. When he’s not roaming hospital corridors, Dr. Adnan Khera, an anesthesiology resident at Boston’s Tufts Medical Center, can be found dancing on the city streets two nights a week. But he’s not dancing for fame, he’s earning money for his charity “Doctor Be...

First gene therapy prescribed: How can we ensure there are more in the future?

by James Smith | Oct 6, 2015

. With contributions from blogger David Brindley September 2015 has been an historic month for regenerative medicine. For the first time ever in the Western world, a prescription has been issued for a gene therapy, Glybera. At the ESGCT and FSGT Collaborative...

Right Turn: Turning the brain on and off with optogenetics

by Hamideh Emrani | Oct 2, 2015

. So many of today’s biomedical advances are only possible because of a step forward in basic science research that happened many years ago. Basic science, be it biology, math or physics, always tries to advance our knowledge of the universe around us. It doesn’t...