Conversations with History interviews Sir John Gurdon on his life and scientific discoveries

Sir John Gurdon Explains Current Research and Early Advances in Nuclear Transfer

• Cell development stages explained in narrative method.


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  Hopes and Concerns in this area of research.

  
  

Conversations with History, the Berkeley program, presents an excellant interview on the management and politics of science as well as the history and current development of embryology.  A video link is provided for those wishing to view this excellant program.

Tags: Conversations with History, Sir John Gurdon, Stem Cells, ESC, cloning, biology, oxford, berkeley

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Stem Cells and Public Policy-a report

Stem Cells and Public Policy was authored by Richard Hayes of the Center for Genetics
and Society in collaboration with Pete Shanks and Marcy Darnovsky, under the direction
of Leif Wellington Haase of The Century Foundation.

This 88 page paper has mamy tables and charts addressing different aspects of the stem cell question.  It appears to be quite professional and a good source of information.  I have not read it yet but plan too. 

Tags: Stem Cells, ESC, Adult Stem Cells

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New York State to Fund Stem Cell Research -- Holden 2007 (402): 4 -- ScienceNOW

New York State to Fund Stem Cell Research -- Holden 2007 (402): 4 -- ScienceNOW: "New York State has finally entered the stem cell arena with the intention of becoming a big-time player second only to California. The state will put $100 million into the research in fiscal year 2008, and stem cell supporters expect the number ultimately to reach $1 billion over a decade"

Kentucky.com | 04/02/2007 | Feds to toss 3 stem cell patents

Kentucky.com | 04/02/2007 | Feds to toss 3 stem cell patents: "Wires - Wire > News - Wire > Nation - Wire Tuesday, Apr 3, 2007

Nation - Wire Posted on Mon, Apr. 02, 2007
reprint or license print email Digg it del.icio.us AIM Feds to toss 3 stem cell patents
By PAUL ELIAS
AP Biotechnology Writer
SAN FRANCISCO --Federal regulators said they are preparing to toss out three key patents related to human embryonic stem cells, a move that could ease concerns over commercial control of the nascent work.
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, an arm of the University of Wisconsin that controls the school's patents, owns the patents and has 60 days to respond and seek to change the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's ruling, issued Friday. The ruling was made public Monday by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and the Public Patent Foundation, which challenged the validity of the patents."

Online NewsHour: Extended Interview: Irving Weissman -- July 2005 | PBS

Online NewsHour: Extended Interview: Irving Weissman -- July 2005 PBS: "Dr. Irving Weissman, a Stanford University professor and cofounder of the biotech company StemCells Inc., is working on inserting human nerve cells into mice to investigate how human brain cancers form. The following is an extended interview with Weissman."

While Dr. Weissman is difficult to read, the interview is very exciting. It brings up brain stem cells, testing for cancer brain stem cells and the proper ethical steps for proceeding.

Banking on the future

Banking on the future

: "Optimists such as David Harris, professor of immunology at University of Arizona and chief scientific officer at one of the nation's largest private cord-blood banks, Cord Blood Registry of San Bruno, Calif., believe adult stem cells will be widely used in the next three to five years to heal burns, skin ulcers and bone fractures that don't mend on their own.

The predictions of others are more tempered. Scientists at the forefront of the work acknowledge they have taken only the first steps down a long road toward the goal of regenerative medicine. Growing tissue from stem cells outside the human body is a challenge at which scientists have had virtually no successes, Wagner says. And even efforts to show that adult stem cells can generate a variety of different tissues have fallen short, says Stanford University's Dr. Irving Weissman, whose success at isolating the adult stem cells in blood gave birth to the field in the late 1980s."

This quote lays out the state of the art in stem cell research. It also refers to Dr. Weissman, an important researcher I had missed.