Guest:
We bring on Mark Post, professor of vascular physiology at the Maastricht University. Dr. Post is an innovator, being the creator of the world’s first lab grown hamburger. Mark’s work has been highlighted in mainstream media and he has given a TEDx talk about his technology and the meat industry. Recently, Mark was back in the news with an announcement that the cost of these stem cell burgers has significantly come down.
Resources and Links
Science Textbooks May Need an Update – Textbook drawings might need to be updated based on new images of the endoplasmic reticulum, a multifaceted organelle within the cell, which shows that it’s a tangled web of interconnected tubes, instead of containing flat sheets as previously believed.
Finding HIV Patient Zero in America – DNA analysis shows HIV came to New York City between 1969 and 1973, long before the man known as Patient Zero became infected.
Training for Parents May Lessen Some Autism Symptoms in Kids – This article presents the idea called Preschool Autism Communication Trial for preschool autism communication trial, which shows that children with autism can be reached by training their parents to be better conversationalists.
Ancient Monkey Hookups – New DNA evidence is pointing to ancient affairs between bonobos and chimpanzees.
The Stem Cell Burger Is Back, and This Time It Might Even Be Affordable – This article reports that stem cell burgers, if mass-produced today, would cost $10 according to Mark Post, its creator, in an Arkansas Online interview.
Research on Rare Genetic Disease Reveals New iPSC Discovery – Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, who first created induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and his colleagues at the Gladstone Institutes found a way to increase the efficiency of stem cell reprogramming through research on a rare genetic disease.
Withholding Amino Acid Depletes Blood Stem Cells – A new study shows that a diet deficient in valine effectively depleted the blood stem cells in mice and made it possible to perform a blood stem cell transplantation with them.
Reactive Oxygen Species and Blood Stem Cells – A research group at Lund University in Sweden identified that certain cells during embryonic development are negatively affected by oxidation capable of leading to a block in cellular function.
Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Mark Post