Biopolis profile and cancer stem cells in current Cell Stem Cell

It is now the 3rd issue of Cell Stem Cell, which is the official journal of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). From the current issue:

In human pancreatic cancer a distinct subpopulation of migrating CD133⁺ CXCR4⁺ cancer stem cells turned out to be essential for tumor metastasis different from the ones responsible for tumor growth: Distinct Populations of Cancer Stem Cells Determine Tumor Growth and Metastatic Activity in Human Pancreatic Cancer

Ann Parson highlights Singapore’s Biopolis with a 3.5 billion budget for 10 years:

Biopolis, a broad and busy spectrum of largely government-funded stem cell research—everything from ES to adult cells, basic to clinical—is clear indication of a small nation eager to stay at the forefront. “One of the attractive aspects of Biopolis is that it’s the way a small island can artificially create critical mass,” Alan Colman noted. “It takes the view that there’s no way it can sustain the number and quality of scientists that you’ll find in a

Moving to New Orleans, starting a new life…and finding an apartment

I’ve already made some hints here, but now it is “official”: we (the new family) are moving to New Orleans on the 16th, June and I start my first postdoc job in a terrific laboratory I’ve already visited back in March.

We have only one problem left: finding a proper appartment in New Orleans from the next week. My main source here is: Mapskrieg, New Orleans, that is Craigslist combined with Google Maps: but at that point I really need personal advices.

So if anyone out of the readers has an irresistible apartment offer, or a good apartment tip please do not hesitate to contact me at [attilacsordas][at][gmail.com]

Industry and career focused stem cell report in the current Nature volume

Positively tuned (for the most part) report on stem cell science by Ricki Lewis: The hard cell Nature 447, 748-749 (June 2007) Excerpts, emphasis added by me:

research in the field is thriving globally. At least 500 companies and collaborations have sprung up, 100 of them in the past year alone…

A solid background for a researcher includes a doctorate in molecular, cell or developmental biology, as well as skills to work with specific cell or tissue types…

Valley Brats in Rolling Stone’s Tech Issue: trends in journalism (weekend off)

And now for something completely different! Sometimes life is just simply life for me without any extension. This is Life.exe. So at the weekends during the largely dead webtimes, I’ll blog about other things than stem cells, regenerative medicine, maximum life extension and biotech. This week offstory is a report, which shows the transformation of the now mainstream, once countercultural Rolling Stone magazine into a Wired-type Zeitgeist patterned techweb conglomerate. I bought the 16th November issue because it seemed like a Wired magazine by cover and content too: (inversely, look at the december Wired cover: it is Rolling Stone-like):

- coverboys and story are not the usual nice bodymaniac popceleb men&women but Colbert&Stewart

- blogs of musicians,

- long report on a radical idea by a planetary engineer to stop global warming,

- a big article with the title: The Baby Billionaires of Silicon Valley.

That is about the Valley Brats, the hidden power clique of under 30 übergeeks in the Bay Area, like Firefox main creator Blake Ross,

Kevin Dewalt’s answers: technology professional, lifestyle life extensionist

Kevin Dewalt is an American technology professional, presently working at a VC. Kevin is a strong life extension supporter. We’ve met online at Baris Karadogan’s blog. I specially liked his “happy argument” for maximum life extension on the psychological level, see answer 3.

1. What is the story of your life extension commitment?

When I was 23 I discovered a book called “Optimum Sports Nutrition” by Dr. Michael Colgan. In it he presents arguments for lifestyle and nutrition changes that athletes could make to improve performance. The idea that changing my exercise, eating, or lifestyle habits could change my physical well being, health and longevity thrilled me and I began my quest. I began researching and learning about dietary supplements. At age 25 I became a vegetarian. At 26 I joined the Life Extension Foundation and have followed their recommended supplement scheme since. At 33 I began started a mild Calorie Restrition diet, lost 10 pounds and have remained on the diet. At that time I also began following the writing of Aubrey de Grey (blogterview here), Roy Walford, and others and realized that the only way I was going to be Father Time forever would be through significant advances in science.

2. Is it a commitment for moderate or maximum life extension?

Stem Cells in Tissue Engineering Conference: Blog and Wiki

As I’ve mentioned before from tomorrow I will be at Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain, at the Conference Stem Cells in Tissue Engineering, 28.10-2.11,2006 organized by the European Science Foundation. The official website of the conference is: http://www.esf.org/conferences/lc06213

In the IT sector it is more and more natural that a Conference has a wiki and different blogs, but things are a bit slower in the life sciences-biotech sector in that respect, although there is a huge development in the field. So I created a blog (WordPress of course) and a mini wiki for the Conference:
blog: http://stemcellconf.wordpress.com/
wiki: Stem_Cells_in_Tissue_Engineering_Symposium

These webtools are ideal for a better communication and information exchange in order to form a real scientific and social community during Conference time.

Stem Cell Career Prospects: Multiple Potentials

Today’s ScienceCareers.org has a comprehensive and enthusiastic ad section considering Careers in Stem Cell Research: Rejuvenating Biology and Medicine by Mike May: Beth Donley, executive director of the WiCell Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin, Madison says ”For stem cells, the breadth of application will depend largely on the extent of the scientific imagination.” According to Olle Lindvall, professor of neurology at Lund University: “From my perspective, stem cell research - in the long term - can completely change our possibilities to repair the brain and do something for many neurological patients where we have nothing today.” “Beyond bench skills, Lindvall says that stem cell scientists need a knowledge of ethics. I ask my new students about their view on the ethical aspects of working on stem cells. If they see none, that is negative from my perspective.” Randall T. Moon, director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle has the opinion: “There are no quick answers here and no quick therapies.” He points out that it took scientists about 15 years to make bone marrow transplants safe and effective.”.. “California universities will have the most jobs in stem cell research” - he adds. Moon says, “people may eventually get at least part way to where a starfish has been all along: If it loses an arm, it grows one back. We may not be able to regrow arms, but we can certainly entertain the goal of leveraging knowledge of stem cells to improve treatments for diseases and injuries.” Link

Stem cell research is a full interdisciplinary enterprise: core knowledge of cellular and molecular biology - understanding the lab techniques and the analytical approaches, developmental biology, computational biology, bioengineering, nanotechnology.

So what about the disease called ageing which is - by the very concept of regenerative medicine - the most promising and final candidate of a possible regenerative treatment? Consider this: Ageing is nothing but the overall regenerative failure of the adult human body.

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Pimm in Cambridge

I have just arrived in Cambridge to work in an established stem cell lab from October till December. It is a tremendous opportunity for a rookie researcher. That means I’ll be doing experiments heavily, acquire new methods and hopefully work on my favourite puzzle topic yet.

Oh, I almost forgot: this is old U.K. Cambridge, not the Massachusetts one. When I was Cambridge in June, I found it familiar, attractive. Cambridge seems to be the place, when “half of western science” was born, just think about Newton, Crick&Watson.

Actually Charles Darwin had other experiences: Although, as we shall presently see, there were some redeeming features in my life at Cambridge, my time was sadly wasted there, and worse than wasted.

But my favourite C moment is this: On Feb. 28, 1953, Francis Crick walked into the Eagle pub in Cambridge, England, and, as James Watson later recalled, announced that “we had found the secret of life.” Actually, they had.
And when I last saw Aubrey de Grey, it was in the Eagle Pub too.

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Impact of Longer Lives on Retirement and Careers

From NewsReleaseWire: Futurists Look At Impact of Longer Lives on Retirement and Careers at the 2006 meeting of the World Future Society in Toronto. How to choose you post-career life well in an ageless society. Link