Hot on the heels of my Pubmed MSC roundup, Nature Reports has a Stem Cell Edition out, and because, you know, they’re a huge multinational publishing company staffed with professional journalists, it contains some fascinating stuff, while covering most of the recent research-related news as well.
CIRM is a state-run institution with a mission to advance research in regenerative medicine, and it will be interesting to see how effective this kind of monolithic non-university institute can be in terms of making real scientific progress. The position of director is a difficult one because of the two-headed leadership approach, where the director and the advisory board chairman share the leadership role, but also because of the tremendously bright spotlight under which the chairman must labor. It’s good to see, then, that Trounson seems to know what he’s getting himself into.
Items of note from the interview are:
He says his primary mission is to push for clinical applications, but later notes that companies have been a little too short-sighted looking for instant cures. This is great because not only does it mean that he’s going to be very interested in MSCs for their ongoing clinical trials, but it also means that the institute won’t be rushing headlong into things without considering the risks. I’ve been saying for some time that more research on immune system interactions is needed, and I’m glad that people in high places are saying that too.
When asked about what he’s learned from working in reproductive medicine in Australia, he says the main thing he learned is , “Be very, very, careful what you say.”
Link to Nature article.
The PRISM Coalition is a fairly unsubtle attempt at obfuscating the issues behind Open Access in scientific publishing, using an approach similar to that employed by the cable and phone companies arguing against net neutrality. Needless to say, it has prompted some rather unsubtle responses. Nature is distancing themselves from PRISM and trying to refocus the attention on the rather complex issues underlying Open Access. All the relevant linkage is in the post, just be sure to not miss J.C. Bradley’s comment.
[tags]open science, prism, scientific publishing, nature, npg, politics[/tags]
Attila Csordas clued me into the fact that Nature Network is now out of Boston-only mode. I think it’s an interesting experiment, kinda like a post-web 2.0 COS. NPG has shown itself to really be embracing the new web technologies, with the del.icio.us clone Connotea, the Digg clone Dissect Medicine, and now the MySpace/LinkedIn clone Nature Network.
They’ve not totally drunk the 2.0 Kool-aid, however, because they don’t let you link to your Connotea page (of papers tagged mywork, for example) instead of re-entering all your publications.