A welcome voice in stem cell communication - a new podcast launches

CIRM grantee Paul Knoepfler at UC Davis has been blogging about stem cell science for a while now. He recently expanded his outreach to include a regular podcast. It's worth checking out. He's listing the most recent podcast at the top of his main blog page: http://www.ipscell.com/ .

Knoepfler includes some science, some policy, and a nice comment on the value of CIRM's funding in advancing stem cell science. As he admits, he's not exactly unbiased. He has a New Faculty II award from CIRM and is at an institution with a shared lab and major facility funded in part by CIRM. Still, we think he's right when he says:

"In a state where there s so much going wrong Californian's should be proud of their foresight in creating CIRM and in all that CIRM has already accomplished. CIRM is one of the things in ca that is actually going really well and we should be happy about it."

There are a few groups competing for the public's attention on stem cell topics. Those opposed to stem cell science have a few blogs, which they promote heavily. These generally tout advances with adult stem cells. Many of those advances are very hopeful, and we tout them too, but telling one side of the story doesn't ever give a complete picture of the field.

Several organizations such as CIRM, the Canadian Stem Cell Network and the Australian Stem Cell Centre also have blogs that promote stem cell science and attempt to put recent scientific advances into context. However, to my knowledge Knoepfler is the only stem cell scientist attempting to reach the public online. I look forward to hearing more podcasts from Knoepfler, and wish him much success in providing accurate information about stem cell research at a time when it is so clearly needed.

A.A.