February 2009: Top 5 Stem Cell Blog Entries

The month of February was a tense one for the stem cell community as the nation waited for some sort of acknowledgment from President Obama.

It never came.

As a result, investors lost money, advocates lost a bit of hope, and potential patients lost a second chance at life.

I present you with the top five blog entries regarding stem cells for the month of February:


5. Was Yoda a Stem Cell Patient?

A clever and humorous story from StemCellTracker.com suggesting that at the age of 900, Yoda (from Star Wars) was undoubtedly a stem cell recipient.

The entry goes on to suggest that Yoda's famous quote was really a reference to the stem cell debate:

"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."


4. Future Stem Cell Policy in the U.S.

Jonathan Slack, director of the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota, offers an insight to what will happen for stem cell research if/when the federal funding ban is lifted.


3. Stem Cell Company Stocks - Updated 2/25/09

This blog's goal is to discuss the ways of making money trading stem cell company stocks, and is so far doing a damn good job in the analysis department.

This February update offers insight to the top performing and worst performing stem cell stocks, and even discusses possible catalysts for why trends, price drops, and surges are happening.


2. How to Invest in Stem Cell Companies

eHow.com member paulgochs provides a "how-to" on investing in stem cell companies. The entry provides 14 steps one should take if they are going to invest in stem cell companies with any success.

These steps include figuring out how much debt a company is in, watching management closely, and reviewing SEC reports, to name a few.

Are stem cell investments too risky for you? Step 14 suggests looking at companies that provide products and services to the stem cell research laboratories.


1. Obama silent about federal funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

An entry that not only criticizes Obama's failure to mention stem cells in his widely talked about "Tuesday Speech," but offers insight and questions beyond that.

How much money is expected to flow into stem cell companies if the ban is lifted? Which companies will see this income?

Of course, the answers to these questions are what make it such a great entry. It suggests that publicly traded companies will not see much money from a federal ban reversal because the funding of scientific research at the federal level is managed by the National Institutes of Health, and a majority of NIH funding goes to academia, not commercial entities.

Before killing every investor's dream, the article explains how companies can still benefit indirectly if the federal dollars following into academia spur private investments.

Honorable Mention:

Cell Therapy Group & BioBusiness.TV collaborate to bring online coverage of cell therapy content from the 2009 Phacilitate Cell & Gene Therapy Forum

Lee Buckler's blog, CellTherapyBlog, provided some real stem cell reporting by providing coverage of the 2009 Phacilitate Cell & Gene Therapy Forum (say that 5 times real fast).

The article provides highlights, a review, interviews, Mash Ups, and 60 second pitches from the event.
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What did you think of these entries? Comment and let the stem cell community know.

The month of March is already turning out to be very interesting for stem cell talk!

Stay tuned...