Don’t be a team player
April 17, 2009
For a number of years I have become increasingly aware, and increasingly annoyed, by the frequency in which people’s opinions are classified, or rather lumped, into discrete groupings. It is as if all the uniqueness of people’s feelings and opinions can somehow be disregarded since it is faster to talk about issues if there are only two possible viewpoints, and only two possible groups that might hold these divergent views.
Read more
I’m curious. Are you?
April 5, 2009
Over the past decade there has been increasing pressure put on biomedical researchers to justify their projects by establishing short term timelines to produce technological or clinical applications. The drive for applicable or “translational” research is in many ways perfectly reasonable. For publically funded research there are limited amounts of tax dollars to go around, and the public is looking for a return on their investment. Also, new technological developments are an economic advantage for the country or region that discovers and brings them to market, so there is a huge financial incentive.
Read more
Should we abandon Embryonic Stem Cell Research?
April 2, 2009
By Ryan Ward, Kevin Graham & Ian Clarke
Stem cells can be derived from many adult organs- for example the stem cells derived from the blood and the nervous system. These cells have tremendous capacity/potential to treat once incurable diseases. The best treatment for some forms of leukemia remains a bone marrow transplant from a healthy donor after completely erasing the patient’s bone marrow (and hopefully any leukemia cells). This technology has been around for many years, and is now being applied to other diseases such as multiple sclerosis and is based on using healthy adult stem cells to replenish the diseased blood of a patient. The same can be said for neural stem cells of the central or peripheral nervous system, though for clinical application these cells remain unproven. The idea here is that adult neural stem cells could be harvested from a patient, or donor, and used for the treatment of spinal cord injury, or neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s.
What is it to be human?
March 16, 2009
Without a doubt the recent lifting of restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research by President Obama has rekindled the debate on the moral and ethical implications of this research. Newscasts, radio call in shows, internet news sites and blogs have been alight with feverish debate. I certainly welcome this debate. As a scientist and a community member I am eager to hear people express their opinions, engage in healthy debate, and hopefully come to a consensus that can be accepted by the majority of people.
Thoughts On The Reversed Stem Cell Restrictions
March 12, 2009
On Monday, President Obama reversed the restrictions on the federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. This is a giant leap forward for not only stem cell research in the US, but will also accelerate stem cell research worldwide.
Read more
An Open Letter to House Republican Leader John Boehner
March 11, 2009
Wednesday March 11, 2009.
Dear House Republican Leader John Boehner,
I am writing in response to your public statement released March 9th, 2009 regarding President Obama’s decision to reverse the limits on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. Specifically your comments:
“The president has rolled back important protections for innocent life […], I am hopeful that the president will re-evaluate this and other controversial decisions that put government at odds with the sanctity of human life […]Congress and the Administration should support bipartisan solutions like Rep. Randy Forbes’ Patients First Act, which would promote stem cell research that is actually getting results.”
Read more
Time to catch up on your stem cell reading
February 20, 2009
I read an interesting article in Time magazine today. The article “Stem Cell Research: The Quest Resumes” appeared in the February 9th issue of Time, and is freely available on-line. By focusing the story around one prominent researcher who is driven to help his two diabetic children through a stem cell-based therapy, the journalist does a nice job of capturing the very personal nature of research into human disease.
Although brief, the article manages to touch on a number of important topics in stem cell research; the political and scientific repercussions of the current funding restrictions on human ES research, the evolving research around induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), and the methods by which these discoveries may be applied to help patients overcome disease. If you have a minute, check out the article, it’s a nice introduction to the topic of stem cell research for those who need it, yet still contains some interesting facts for those who follow the field a little closer.
The truth hurts
February 12, 2009
The truth often hurts….but everyone seems to prefer a painful truth over a happier, yet more deceptive statement or position. In current politics it seems that at least some of Obama’s popularity is due to the perception that he is presenting a more level, or truthful assessment of the current economic and political issues that are occurring world-wide. Indeed it seems to be part of the political strategy right now to separate the Obama team from past administrations by being completely candid and frank.
Read more
Obama: “We will restore science to its rightful place”
January 29, 2009
Obama’s early indications and actions and indeed his inaugural speech, from which the title of this blog was taken, has scientists and environmentalists in a positive frame of mind.
Returning home…
December 20, 2008
My blog this month is about returning home. I am an ex-pat Australian working in stem cell research at SickKids. I left Australia on Australia Day 2004 as a fresh-faced PhD graduate. Nearly 5 years have passed and I have returned this month for a brief trip in the capacity of both a mature researcher and as an aunty to see my kids for Christmas.
I won’t lie; the past few months have been interesting for me as I struggled to put all of my emotions in perspective. I have been full of joy and happiness, a little anxious and fearful, but proud as well, which has made for some very interesting internal dialogues! It took a little time to realise these feelings were not about my return home after so long away, but rather they are indelibly linked to life as a researcher, regardless of the stage at which we find ourselves in our careers.
I am at the point in my career where I am almost ready to strike out for independence, and I came home to look at research opportunities. My search started with giving a seminar to my home institution; that is to those responsible for giving me my foundations in science. This seminar was important to me as much for showcasing the stem cell research we are doing at SickKids with respect to childhood cancer as it was for showing that living abroad and working in an environment that fosters collaborative efforts, as SickKids does, has been a great developmental opportunity. I was able to illustrate that as a result of the information we have gained from the cancer stem cell research we are doing we could offer insight into why current therapies are not working, the mechanisms of responsible for patient relapse at distant metastatic sites, and how we might treat them in the future.
I was fortunate to give this seminar to a second children’s research institute and talk to more Australian scientists about the stem cell research being done at SickKids and to some other scientists interested in finding out what we are doing at SickKids. The response to my research in the role of cancer stem cells in children’s cancer was incredibly positive for both the application of stem cell research theories to children’s cancer, particularly a cancer where distant metastases are common and responsible for a majority of deaths, as well as the collaborative efforts of the team (the ward, pathology, surgery, clinic, and research) at SickKids as model system.
Stem cell research is an interesting research area in so many ways, but none more interesting for me at this stage in my career as I look for the right place to settle and establish myself as a stem cell researcher. SickKids have put me in the right place with respect to being competitive in attracting career offers and research funds to continue my efforts in trying to understand the role of cancer stem cells in childhood cancer.
I am happy about my experience of returning home to tell my very early career mentors about how I have developed as a scientist since I left them, and have made some really tough career and life decisions in this too short a trip. I’d like to continue this blog to tell you all about the process a young scientist goes through to make the decision to become an independent researcher and to tell you about the process of looking for the right job.
Talk to you next month and Merry Christmas!
Rett Syndrome and induced Pluripotent Stem cells goes “Green”
June 17, 2009 by Aaron Cheung
Stem cell researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children have now devised a method, reported in the scientific journal Nature Methods, that will facilitate the generation of induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells. I have previously blogged about the promise of iPS cells (see related articles). iPS cells are cells which have been reprogrammed from a differentiated somatic cell (such as your skin cells) to a pluripotent stem cell (like an embryonic stem cell, only that you don’t need to use embryos!). The generation of iPS cells is inherently very rare which occurs at a frequency of about 0.01% meaning you can generate about one iPS cell line out of hundred thousand cells. Out of which, many lines fail to satisfy the different rigorous tests necessary to be given the prestigious name of “iPS cell”.
Continue reading Rett Syndrome and induced Pluripotent Stem cells goes “Green”
Some of our experts
Stem Cell Origins
Cancer stem cells
Stem Cells and the Nervous System
