Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Shilling for Stem Cell Treatments? A Look at the Journal Nature and an Advertising Matter

For UC Davis scientist, Paul Knoepfler it was something "very strange." For Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik, it had the earmarks of a "race to the bottom."

And it all involved a stem cell matter published by the prestigious journal Nature.

The headline on Hiltzik's column yesterday summarized the case like this. 
"Did a world-famous science journal become a shill for a questionable stem cell claim?"
Hiltzik wrote,
"Readers of Nature, one of the world’s most important scientific journals, might have been struck recently by an audacious claim appearing on its website about a possible stem cell treatment for heart attacks.

"The published item asserted that MUSE cells, a subset of stem cells, could regenerate heart tissue after acute myocardial infarctions, which are deadly sudden heart attacks. This could be a significant advance in both cardiac treatment and the use of stem cells.

"Here’s the problem. The published item wasn’t a peer-reviewed article subject to Nature’s rigorous professional vetting procedure. It was an advertisement placed by the Translational Research Center for Medical Innovation, the Japanese research lab that says it performed the reported study on MUSE cells using white rabbits.

"It looked like a Nature article, however, at least to Paul Knoepfler, a stem cell expert at UC Davis who has become one of our most assiduous debunkers of stem-cell quackery. Knoepfler thought the layout of the item might cause some readers to mistake it for a peer-reviewed paper, and promptly queried Nature. The journal responded by taking the advertisement offline Feb. 22. Knoepfler’s brief chronicle of the affair can be found on his website here."
Hiltzik concluded:
"The Food and Drug Administration has its hands full monitoring these claims and treatments. The agency has issued multiple warnings to steer the public away from such clinics and has taken administrative and legal action against some of them. The signs point to more exploitation and more danger to the public health. Important journals such as Nature shouldn’t be participating in a race to the bottom."
For the record, Knoepfler has been critical in the past about some of Hiltzik's commentary, including the columnist's views about the state stem cell agency.  

Wednesday, January 06, 2016

Readership Numbers for the Stem Cellar, the official blog of California's Stem Cell Agency

Here are some readership figures for the Stem Cellar, the official blog of the California stem cell agency, known formally as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

The numbers and text were provided by the agency and come from Kevin McCormack, senior director of communications.
"We only have stats from May 2014 because that is the date when this blog was switched to Wordpress (that’s also the reason why the viewing figures for May were so low, it took people a while to find the new site). The blog started in 2007 on a site called blogspot." 
Data from 2015:
Home page views: 34,871
Top blog reads: 2,336
Best ever views: Sept 2nd 2015 with 1,454 views
From May 2014-Dec 2015
Views went from 60  to ~13,000

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecTotal
2014601,7156,0197,2745,8078,44811,4209,59250,335
201511,0458,66410,3837,5209,32610,3448,30310,01013,23013,63413,39112,145127,995

Average per Day

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Overall
2014
2
57
194
235
194
273
381
309
209
2015
356
309
335
251
301
345
268
323
441
440
446
429
353
Referrers (in order of top views)
1)    Search Engines (google, bing, yahoo)
2)    Facebook
3)    Twitter
Total # Posts: 1,555
Total followers: 485 (115 on wordpress and 370 on email subscription)

(Editor's note: This item was belatedly added in September 2016 because of publishing error in January 2016, when it should have been posted by yours truly.)

The Stem Cellar Named the World's Best Stem Cell Blog: Compelling Content, Commentary and More

The blog of the $3 billion California stem cell agency last month was ranked as the best stem cell blog in the world by the only entity that measures such things. 

The designation came from The Niche, a stem cell blog published by UC Davis researcher Paul Knoepfler, who on Dec. 22 identified the best blogs in the field for 2015. He said,

“The (top) prize goes to CIRM’s The Stem Cellar. While this is a tough choice (see more below on other stem cell blogs), CIRM’s blog has continued from year to year to step up its game. They post very often, sometimes daily. Their posts are composed of compelling content that includes reports on papers and other developments, but also commentary. I really appreciate the latter and that is fairly unique. They have also gone well beyond just focusing on CIRM-related matters to include broader issues for the stem cell field.”

(CIRM is the acronym for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the formal name of the agency.)

Knoepfler continued,

“...(F)inishing a close second was Alexey Bersenev’s blog StemCellAssays. It continues to be incredible. Alexey regularly posts on the more technical side of stem cells, regenerative medicine, cellular medicine, and more. StemCellAssays is a much read for those interested in this field from any number of angles."

Kevin McCormack, WAF photo
The California Stem Cell Report, which was on Knoepfler’s short list, asked the stem cell agency about its blog, its readership and how it operates. Kevin McCormack, senior director of communications, replied,

“It was very flattering obviously to learn that Paul had named us as the #1 stem cell blog. We’ve been working hard to make our blog as engaging and thoughtful, and fun, as possible and this was vindication that at least in his eyes we had succeeded.

“Our strategy is really quite simple. We look for what we think are the best, most interesting stories out there, and then write about them. Obviously we like to highlight stories about research we are funding but more often than not we’re just looking for something new, something fresh, something that sheds a new light on research in general or on tackling a particular disease or problem in particular.”

(For the full text of McCormack’s reply, see here.)

Todd Dubnicoff, CIRM photo
Karen Ring, CIRM photo
In addition to McCormack, three other CIRM team members write for The Stem Cellar, which posts virtually five days a week. They are Karen Ring, a former stem cell researcher, Don Gibbons and Todd Dubnicoff. The pace of postings is important because it is generally believed in the blogosphere that blogs must be fed often to keep readers interested.


Don Gibbons, CIRM photo
The activity on the blog has additional significance since CIRM’s home page is fundamentally static and rarely changes on a day-to-day basis. So the liveliness on the blog helps keep people coming back to the agency’s information where it touts its success. 

As for readership of the blog, it obviously draws attention from scientists and patients. But the audience is small compared to the mammoth numbers chalked up by big name blogs, which count their readership in millions. McCormack said WordPress reported 127,995 page views for 2015 for the agency’s blog. (For more numbers, see here.).

A Pew Research Center study reported last year that the number of scientists who are blogging is growing as awareness increases about the importance of making full use of Internet communications tools.

Susan Gunelius, writing on the ACI Information Group's Web site, said,
"Certainly, the more scientists who publish blogs and share their findings via social media, the more the public will learn about science from reputable sources. With that in mind, let’s hope that the number of scientists who are active on social media and writing blogs continues to grow!"
Here is the list of the other stem cell blogs rated highly by Knoepfler: the California Stem Cell Report,  EuroStemCell, ISSCR Blog, msemporda, Signals Blog, Stem Cell Assays, Stem Cell Podcast, Stem Cells Buzz, The Node.

Knoepfler, who has received grants from the California stem cell agency, reported that msemporda and Stem Cells Buzz are new to the game.

CIRM's Approach to Stem Cell Blogging: The Full Text

The California Stem Cell Report asked the California stem cell agency for a run down on how it approaches its blog, which in December was rated the top stem cell blog of 2015 by The Niche, another stem cell blog published by UC Davis researcher Paul Knoepfler.

Kevin McCormack, senior director for communications, replied,
"It was very flattering obviously to learn that Paul had named us as the #1 stem cell blog. We’ve been working hard to make our blog as engaging and thoughtful, and fun, as possible and this was vindication that at least in his eyes we had succeeded.

"Our is really quite simple. We look for what we think are the best, most interesting stories out there, and then write about them. Obviously we like to highlight stories about research we are funding but more often than not we’re just looking for something new, something fresh, something that sheds a new light on research in general or on tackling a particular disease or problem in particular.

"We try to divide it up so that we all write a blog every week, that way we get different voices and flavors in the mix. I think that’s important for a number of reasons. One, it creates a sense that this is truly a team blog, and two, it allows each of us to take a little bit more time in writing each piece, to make sure we get it right and to do it in a way that is most interesting and accessible for our audience.

"We have a really broad range of people reading us from researchers and scientists to people with no science background (like me), so we are always mindful of trying to write in a way that allows everyone to understand what’s going on. We also try to write in a way that reflects how exciting this research is and the potential it has. But we also try to balance that by reminding people that some of this work was done in animals and needs to be replicated in people before we get carried away.

"One of the new things that Dr. Karen Ring has added, since joining us this year, is more individual profiles of young researchers. These have been popular in helping give a voice to a group of people who are often overlooked, the youngest members of the research teams, the people who represent the future of stem cell research and are the next generation of scientific stars.

"We are always looking to add new ideas, new voices to the blog. So if you have any thoughts or ideas left over from your own, let us know. We’re happy to try anything. At least once."

Friday, October 23, 2015

The Niche Rises -- Sort of Phoenix-like -- in California

California and the world has a “new” stem cell blog – at least new in name.

Welcome to The Niche (with an upper case T).

Paul Knoepfler, UC Davis photo
It is a rebranding of ipscell.com, the five-year-old effort by UC Davis stem cell researcher Paul Knoepfler.

He announced the change yesterday. Knoepfler wrote,
 “The Niche name better represents the sense that this site is a home and community including contributions by other writers and also commenters. I’m still working on a logo for The Niche.
“As The Niche continues to evolve look for it to include a wider range of contributors. As you may have noticed we have an increasing number of posts on genetics and genetic modification as well in addition to stem cells and regenerative medicine.”
The Niche, as some may recall, was the name of an excellent blog mounted by the journal Nature a few years back. It was shuttered by Nature for what must be presumed to be financial reasons.

Monya Baker and Natalie DeWitt were the overseers of that effort. Baker remains with Nature. DeWitt moved on to the California stem cell agency where she was a top aide to its then president Alan Trounson. She left the agency in June 2014 for Stanford and has been with NDA Partners LLC of San Francisco for the past five months.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Sunlight, Stem Cells and Feathers

California stem cell researcher​/blogger Paul Knoepfler is reporting that he has ruffled some elite feathers in the stem cell community.

In a post last week, the UC Davis scientist said that his heavy coverage of the STAP stem cell flap appears to have offended some. He wrote,
“It seems (the) concept of not talking about bad news is well-entrenched in the stem cell field.... I’ve been informed that I’ve ruffled the feathers of a couple elite VIPs of the stem cell world by covering the STAP stem cell story on my blog and doing the stem cell crowdsourcing experiment. 
“Would they really prefer that we all just skip along merrily singing kumbaya? 
“The reality is that the STAP stem cell situation is a serious threat to the stem cell field. As someone who is a big fan of stem cells and advocates actively for stem cell research, I wasn’t going to turn a blind eye.”

Earlier, Knoepfler also defended his blogging on the subject after stem cell scientist George Daley of Harvard expressed “concern” about the use of social media to discuss the subject. I wrote about that situation on March 7, noting the value of social media as a communications tool.

To get another perspective on the subject, I asked Deborah Blum, the Helen Firstbrook Franklin Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of five books, for her thoughts. She replied,
“I like social media as a tool for transparency, Dave. It gets criticized for being overwrought, or witch-hunting in nature. But I didn't see that in Paul's post. This may explain, though, why he contacted me on Twitter about a post I wrote a while back called "The Trouble With Scientists" that is a defense of bloggers and smart scientist bloggers. Think of Rosie Redfield's blog post on the so-called arsenic-based life report that helped show the flaws. Or the blog Retraction Watch, by Ivan Oransky, who's both an MD and a journalist. The kind of thoughtful online discussion that I think you saw in Paul's piece adds to efforts to make research more open and more accessible. And acknowledging its flaws is just as important in the process as praising its successes. 
“And I do NOT believe a scientist should be punished for writing responsibly about issues in research. I think it's praiseworthy.”

Knoepfler has added this note to his ruffled feathers item,
“It’s important to point out here that I don’t think this STAP situation, even if it gets even worse, can derail the positive momentum of our field overall, but it can slow things down. Also, the stem cell field needs public trust. When I am out there communicating with the public about stem cells and answering their questions, sadly they often spontaneously mention 'scandals' and 'controversy.' Many folks seem to associate these with the stem cell field already.”

Our take: Trying to bury dubious matters and hide questionable activities has led to the downfall of many organizations and individuals. If the stem cell field is to prosper, especially in age of lightning communications, its leaders should be forthright, open and transparent, whether the matter involves replication of research or conflicts of interest. As the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis has been famously quoted, 
“Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants."

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Nine Years on the California Stem Trail: A Look Behind the Curtain

Back in November 2004, the re-election of President George Bush dominated the news throughout the nation. But out in California, there was talk of a new gold rush, triggered by a measure buried deep on the ballot that month.

The latter-day argonauts were not expected, however, to be scratching out nuggets. Instead they would be fiddling with stem cells, particularly human embryonic stem cells. It all looked like big bucks for the biotech industry -- $3 billion from a new state agency.

That was when the idea for this blog began to percolate. A few weeks later -- nine years ago this month  -- the first item appeared on the California Stem Cell Report. It now seems a likely occasion to reflect on the scope and purpose of what appears here and to discuss readership and other matters.

David Jensen
Editor California Stem Cell Report
First, to answer an oft-heard question: Why am I am writing about this particular agency, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM)? The simple answer is that it is interesting, at least to some, and important. The agency – created by Proposition 71 of 2004 – is an exceptional and unprecedented state effort. Nothing like it has existed in
California history. It operates with unusual autonomy. The governor and the legislature cannot touch its funding or direct its research. It survives on $3 billion borrowed by the state, which will roughly double the cost of the research to $6 billion or so because of the interest on the borrowing. It also marks another first with its use of California state debt to pay for scientific research.

At one point, CIRM was the world's largest single source of funding for human embryonic stem cell research. The agency has lured top researchers from other states and countries. And it represents a unique mash-up of government, politics, big business, big science, big academia, morality, ethics, life and death and even sex.

Since 2005, the California Stem Cell Report has been read by researchers, policy makers and other interested parties around the world. They log in from Singapore and Great Britain, Canada and Korea as well as institutions ranging from the NIH and Harvard to Stanford, UC San Francisco, Scripps and Sanford Burnham and more.

I estimate that only a few thousand persons around the world are deeply interested on a regular basis in stem cell research, making the potential audience for this Web site rather small. But Google reports that as of today 729,841 page views have been registered during the life of the blog. (I have posted 3,608 items.) Last month, which was slow because of the holiday, the California Stem Cell Report chalked up 16,878 page views, which are the basic Internet standard for measuring readership.

The items that seem to grab the most attention involve individuals as opposed to the nuts and bolts of either science or policy. When CIRM directors considered election of a new chairman in 2011, readership jumped. Machinations involving selection of new presidents at the agency draw readers. Of course, reports about dubious activities or problems also are of significant interest. The lure of stories about people nonetheless is not much different than seen in the mainstream media, based on my 35 or so years in the news business.

Another matter that has drawn an extraordinary amount of interest involves money: specifically the expected cost of stem cell therapies. In 2010, I posted on Scribd a study financed by CIRM -- one that the agency was not trumpeting -- that examined the issue of costs. Since then, it has been read 14,096 times, the most of any document that I have posted on the Scribd service, which provides a way to mount documents and link to them via the blog.

In its initial years, the blog primarily surveyed California media reporting on the stem cell agency, providing links and commentary with some original reporting. But today the focus is mostly on original reporting with analysis and commentary. The agency and its doings have slipped off the radar of the mainstream media, where they probably will remain short of a major scandal or a massive PR effort by the agency.

One of my goals was to provide detailed information, news and analysis about California's unusual research effort – far more than could be done by print media. The idea was to exploit one of the unique characteristics of the Internet-- the capability of publishing nearly unlimited amounts of information. Newspapers constantly cut, squeeze and trim stories because of both cost and their desire to publish a large number of articles about many different subjects. With the Internet, there is virtually no limit on the amount of content, a feature that is both good and not-so-good. Another goal was to go beyond the official handouts and to provide a guide to where useful information can be found.

The California Stem Cell Report differs from the mainstream media in another regard. The blog carries the remarks of representatives of the agency and other interested parties VERBATIM, even when they sometimes involve harsh attacks on the conduct of the blog. Major media almost never allow such access.

I have a couple of biases that underpin what I do. One is the assumption that it is beneficial generally for the government to fund scientific research. The other and more important principle is that government agencies should operate with maximum openness and transparency and that their first obligation is to the people – not the researchers that they fund or the institutions that have something at stake.

While readers can judge for themselves the success of the blog, the scope of the readership from the NIH to California's biotech hot spots suggests it is well-received. Mainstream media reporters as well as science writers often use the California Stem Cell Report as a reference and starting point. The blog has also served as a springboard for acceptance of my own occasional freelance articles in such places as The Sacramento Bee and Wired News. And in 2012, I testified before the Institute of Medicine, at its invitation, during preparation of its $700,000 report on the stem cell agency.

As for how the work is done, the writing and reporting are performed largely from a sailboat in Mexico and Central America, on which my wife and I live full-time. Sometimes that has presented difficulties, but as cellphone and Internet service has improved over the years, the task has become easier. We make visits back to California regularly during which I meet with agency officials and others and attend CIRM's public meetings.

I have focused largely on the policy and business aspects of the agency because that is where my knowledge and background lies. During my career, I have covered and edited stories from the state Capitol for United Press International and spent 10 years as the business editor of The Sacramento Bee along with editing prize-winning investigative projects, including the 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning series, “The Monkey Wars,” by Deborah Blum, who now teaches at the University of Wisconsin. I also served two years and one week with Jerry Brown during his 1974 campaign for governor and into his first term.

As for my financial interests, my wife and I have never had any investments in any enterprise that could benefit financially from the activities of the stem cell agency except for possibly through index-based mutual funds over which I have no control. But like most of world, my family has suffered from conditions that theoretically could benefit from development of stem cell therapies. 

I am always interested in thoughts and comments from readers, critical or otherwise. My skin is reasonably thick. I have always told reporters who have worked for me that if you perform your act in a public place you should be prepared for any sort of reaction. I welcome suggestions for stories and improvements.

Feel free to contact me at djensen@californiastemcell.com. Or if you prefer to withhold your identity, you can leave a comment anonymously via the “comment” function at the end of each item.  

Monday, September 09, 2013

Rise Up and Blog! Any Scientist Can!

The old saying has it that you can tell the pioneers by the arrows in their backs. 

Tell that to Paul Knoepfler, the UC Davis stem cell researcher who has been something of a pioneer in stem cell blogging and still is -- at least given that almost no other stem cell researcher blogs both as a researcher and patient advocate in addition to taking on wide-ranging business and public policy issues.

Knoepfler does have a few arrows in his back, some from enterprises that are less than happy with his vieww of their conduct and some from within the stem cell research community itself. But overall he has found the experience beneficial and rewarding. 

In an article in Nature Medicine Sept. 6, Knoepfler is recruiting more researchers for the stem cell blog brigade. To encourage them, he recounts his experiences and costs (such as $1,500 for his special domain name, although a normal domain name can be had for virtually no cost). His experiences include working late at night and on weekends. We can testify that the father of three puts in the hours, just based on the nature of the blog content and frequency of posting. 

Knoepfler continues his pitch in his piece in Nature, which is read primarily by researchers,
“To all this a reader might say, ‘Okay, this all sounds well and good, but you can't have your cake and eat it, too! Your science must have suffered from all this.’ In fact, I have lost some sleep, but I have not seen much in the way of negative scientific consequences. My lab has done very well during the past three years, and we have published many important papers, including one earlier this year that demonstrated the molecular similarities between induced pluripotency in stem cells and oncogenic transformation in cancer cells. I even secured tenure during this time.

“Reflecting on my personal transformation to the role of scientist−advocate, I have come to notice many tangible positive outcomes. In a general sense, my work has served to build bridges and stimulate new dialogue between industry and academia in the stem cell field. At the same time, I couple these efforts to accountability. Today, if someone does an Internet search for 'stem cell blog', that person will find my site, with all its educational outreach resources, at the top of the results list. A few years ago, the same search would mostly have yielded sites published by opponents of stem cell research or proponents of sketchy, for-profit endeavors to attract stem cell 'tourism'. I have also interacted with more than 100 patients and caregivers, helping them make more educated and, I believe, safer, stem cell−related medical decisions with their physicians.”
Knoepfler’s bottom line pitch? Any scientist can!

As he put it:
“Any scientist can, and should, do it. It is only logical that scientists would adapt to today's reality—a funding-poor environment that is nonetheless rich with opportunities for communication—by becoming advocates. I predict that any scientist who devotes a tiny bit of time to advocacy endeavors will find that the payoff is greatly multiplied. I will even help. Drop me an e-mail. Or better yet, leave a comment on my blog or message me on Twitter. Let's get the conversation going.”

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