The holidays are right around the corner. If you have a child or pre-teen in your life, the pressure is on to find that perfect gift. Since you’re reading Signals, you probably understand the value of encouraging kids to be enthusiastic about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). After all, a STEM education, both at school and in the home, has a positive impact on overall academic success. So, why not give a STEM-related gift…

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Schematic drawing of laminin protein. Laminin is made up of alpha, beta and gamma chains that are encoded by three separate genes. Mutations in the genes that encode laminin subunits cause epidermolysis bullosa (EB).   One of my personal highlights from this year’s Till and McCulloch Meetings was attending the “Science for Citizens” panel (reported on in a previous post). Experts including Timothy Caulfield, patient advocate William Brock, and National Post writer Tom Blackwell emphasized…

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  Eleven months in to 2017, I’m confident you’ve heard of Canada 150: a government-led initiative to celebrate and recognize Canada’s “150th” year – that number is widely disputed by the way. If Canada 150 does not sound familiar, you can find information and December activities here. But have you heard of Canada 2067? Of relevance to the regenerative medicine community, Canada 2067 is a national initiative to shape the future of science, technology, engineering…

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Bioreactors (Copyright CCRM 2017) The recent FDA approvals of Kymriah for the treatment of children and young adults with B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, and Yescarta to treat adults with certain types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and the unanimous endorsement by an FDA advisory committee of a gene therapy (LUXTURNA)  has energized the fields of cell-and gene-based therapies. (Learn how gene therapies work, here.) The requirement to manufacture millions of doses of cell- and gene-based therapies no…

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Happy Thanksgiving to our American family, friends and colleagues. It may feel like 2017 didn’t offer quite as much to be thankful for on a global level, but there was one uplifting international event that rocked our world. Despacito. On January 12, 2017, Universal Music Latin released “Despacito” and its music video. According to reliable sources, the video is the most watched of all time, with more than three billion* views. (Click here to read…

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Dr. Jane Lebkowski, of Asterias, speaking at TMM 2017 With the extensive exploitation of regenerative medicine through the marketing and selling of unapproved stem cell “therapies” online, it was refreshing to hear an update about clinical trials for a legitimate stem cell therapy at the Till & McCulloch Meetings (TMM) earlier this month. Dr. Jane Lebkowski, President of R&D and Chief Scientific Officer at Asterias Biotherapeutics Inc., shared updates from their SCiStar study. This California-based…

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  L-R panelists Timothy Caulfield, William Brock and Tom Blackwell, TMM 2017 Timothy Caulfield is a crusader against pseudoscience and “scienceploitation” as he likes to call the field of exploiting science for marketing purposes. He was one of the speakers in a lunch time panel, at the recent Till & McCulloch Meetings, on ethical, legal and social issues. The title of the panel was “Science for Citizens: Navigating the Challenges and Opportunities for Public Engagement…

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  L-R panelists Timothy Caulfield, William Brock and Tom Blackwell, TMM 2017 Timothy Caulfield is a crusader against pseudoscience and “scienceploitation” as he likes to call the field of exploiting science for marketing purposes. He was one of the speakers in a lunch time panel, at the recent Till & McCulloch Meetings, on ethical, legal and social issues. The title of the panel was “Science for Citizens: Navigating the Challenges and Opportunities for Public Engagement…

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Jennifer Molson at TMM 2017 Imagine your hands lose their control and, all of a sudden, the glass of water you just took from the fridge slips and shatters on the ground. What could it be? “It is probably carpel tunnel syndrome,” says your family doctor. But you experience more problematic symptoms like double vision and loss of balance and, after more tests, are diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). This is how Jennifer Molson’s MS…

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  Dr. Michael Rudnicki, of the Stem Cell Network, presenting the 2017 TMM Award to Dr. Harry Atkins This year, Dr. Harold Atkins was honored with the Till & McCulloch Award. He and Dr. Mark Freedman led a clinical trial that used stem cells to reset the immune system as a treatment strategy for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and a few other neurodegenerative diseases, such as stiff person syndrome. You can read how this trial has…

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