Author: Editor

Stem cell therapy allows blind to see again, thanks to animal research

A team of scientists led by stem cell pioneer Professor Robert Lanza has reported today in the Lancet (1) the first evidence for the long-term safety of  retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in patients who took part in a trial undertaken in four centres in the US. substantial … Continue reading Stem cell therapy allows blind to see again, thanks to animal research

Nobel Prizewinner John O’Keefe warns of threat to science from overly restrictive animal research and immigration rules

In an interview with the BBC yesterday 2014 Nobel laureate  John O Keefe has warned of the dangers posed by regulations that restrict animal research and the free movement of scientists across borders. "It is an incontrovertible fact that if we want to make progress in basic areas of medicine and biology we are going … Continue reading Nobel Prizewinner John O’Keefe warns of threat to science from overly restrictive animal research and immigration rules

Nobel Prize 2014: Fortune favours the prepared mind

Speaking of Research congratulates John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser on being awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain”. By recording the activity of individual nerve cells within the brains of rats that were moving freely through their … Continue reading Nobel Prize 2014: Fortune favours the prepared mind

Undermining a cornerstone of medical research – examining a biased commentary on animal studies

Medical sociologist, Pandora Pound, and epidemiologist, Michael Bracken, recently wrote an opinion piece entitled "Is animal research sufficiently evidence based to be a cornerstone of biomedical research?" for the British Medical Journal. The article was chosen as the editor’s choice, leading to an editorial by the editor in chief, Fiona Godlee. Pound and Bracken criticise … Continue reading Undermining a cornerstone of medical research – examining a biased commentary on animal studies

Kicking off a new era for neuroprosthetics, or just the warm-up?

Tonight, if everything goes according to plan, a young person will stand up in front of a global audience numbering in the hundreds of millions, walk a few paces, and kick a football.  This by itself may not seem remarkable, after all this is the opening ceremony of the World Cup, but for the Miguel … Continue reading Kicking off a new era for neuroprosthetics, or just the warm-up?

More dishonesty about animal research from the Daily Mirror

Today the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mirror published a truly execrable piece of animal rights propaganda dressed up as journalism, in an article attacking neuroscience research undertaken using cats at University College London. The article mischaracterized the two research projects, which were published in the Journal of Neurophysiology in 2012 and 2013,   from … Continue reading More dishonesty about animal research from the Daily Mirror

Ebola virus vaccine developed to protect wild gorillas and chimpanzees

The current Ebola virus outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia is a stark reminder on the need for effective therapies and vaccines for this disease, which has claimed the lives of thousands of people in West Africa in a series of outbreaks since the 1970’s. It is not just the human inhabitants of West Africa … Continue reading Ebola virus vaccine developed to protect wild gorillas and chimpanzees