California Stem Cell Report

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

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."

Readership Numbers on the California Stem Cell Agency's Blog

The California Stem Cell Report asked the state stem cell agency for readership statistics on its blog, named in December as the best stem cell blog in the word. Here is the text of what Kevin McCormack, senior director for communications, sent along.

"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

Monday, January 04, 2016

From Royalties to Real Products: The Journal Science Looks at the Prospects for the California Stem Cell Agency

The headlines last week in the journal Science spoke of California’s stem cell “end game,” its “a race to the clinic” and its “prospects for new money.”

The article by Kelly Servick provided a quick status report on the Golden State’s $3 billion stem cell agency. The research effort last month approved a plan for spending its last $800 million in an attempt to fulfill the promises of the 2004 ballot campaign that created the research effort.

Servick wrote that the new plan could be critical to survival of the agency. She said,

“(W)hether there will be enough believers in CIRM to keep the agency afloat may depend on how well it can build—and publicize—a track record for moving stem cell discoveries to the clinic.”

The agency has been largely ignored for the last several years by the mainstream media, but its fresh, five-year plan has attracted some modest attention, including Servick’s piece in Science Jan. 1.

The article largely sprang out of the December meeting at which the board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the agency is formally known, approved its strategy for the next five years.

Servick also quoted Robert Klein, the former chairman of the agency, as saying he hopes to spearhead a new ballot initiative in 2018 to fund the agency beyond 2020, when its cash is expected to run out. At the December meeting, the board specifically avoided approval of a ballot effort and referred the question of future funding to a board subcommittee. No public meetings of that panel have been announced.

Servick began her story like this:

“Born out of discontent with the federal restrictions on research with cells from human embryos, California’s stem cell agency is at a key juncture: Over the past decade, it’s spent a large portion of its $3 billion budget nurturing fledgling disease therapies, but that state money may run out before most ments are ready for the clinic.”

She continued,

“Even if all goes according to plan, however, most CIRM-funded projects will not finish phase II trials in the next 5 years, and may not be ready for an industry partner, (Chairman Jonathan) Thomas told the board. ‘If [CIRM doesn’t] have additional funding at that point, we will have only partially met our obligation to develop therapies and cures.’”

She noted that one funding possibility is “large royalty payments” from CIRM-related research, something that was promised by backers of the stem cell ballot initiative in 2004. However, if any royalties do surface, they will go to the state general fund -- not to the stem cell agency. Lawmakers would have to approve an appropriation for the agency -- one that would also have to be approved by the governor. Currently, the agency is financed by money that the state borrows and which flows directly to the agency without the need for legislative or gubernatorial approval.

At the December meeting, Art Torres, vice chairman of the board and a former, longtime state lawmaker, expressed reservations about dealing with the Legislature.

Servick wrote,

“There are ‘people that don’t believe in what we do, who are members of the legislature,’ Torres warned, and they ‘could invariably impact any [CIRM funding] proposal.’”

The Science article is behind a paywall. If you would like a copy, please email me at djensen@californiastemcellreport.com.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Taking Some Stem Cell Time Off

The California Stem Cell Report is going dark for the holidays and will resume during the first week of January 2016, a year that also will bring us the Chinese year of the red fire monkey.

We wish all of you fine readers out there a wonderful holiday and a happy new year!

Monday, December 21, 2015

Media Coverage: The Scientist Weighs In on CIRM's New Plans

The $3 billion California stem cell agency has scored another modest media victory with a small article in The Scientist about its plans for spending $890 million during the next five years.

The piece by Bob Grant appeared in the Dec. 21 edition of the magazine and was headlined,
"CIRM Ups Translational Velocity."

Randy Mills, CEO of the agency, was quoted. The California Stem Cell Report was cited as well.

The Scientist is aimed at life science professionals. It says it has 409,000 unique monthly online visitors.

See here and here for other articles on the media coverage of the agency's new spending plan.

Profitability in a $50 Billion Market: Fujifilm Projections and Cellular Dynamics

A Japanese firm that is the beneficiary of a $16 million award from the California stem cell agency was the subject yesterday of a piece in the Wisconsin State Journal.

The article by Judy Newman involved Fujifilm and Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) of Madison, Wis. The Japanese business bought Cellular Dynamics last April for $307 million. By that time, Cellular Dynamics had received the California cash to help create the world's largest public stem cell bank at the Buck Institute north of San Francisco.

The stem cell agency has pumped more than $32 million into the project.

The occasion for the Wisconsin story was an interview with Kazuyoshi Hirao, CDI’s new chairman and CEO, and Chris Parker, executive vice president and chief business officer. The story also reported that Jamie Thomson, the famed University of Wisconsin researcher who founded the firm, is no longer employed by it. The newspaper did not elaborate.

Here are some highlights from the Q&A.

Parker said that Fujifim intends to bring to bear large-scale manufacturing practices on cellular production. He continued,

"Fujifilm believes regenerative medicine (using stem cells to treat diseases) will be a $50 billion market by 2025. Manufacturing will have to ramp up with it. We will have to look at leveraging other technologies to scale the business.

"The concept is that some day, we’ll each have our own iPS cells made and banked. So that when you need heart cells after a heart attack or you have eye damage from age-related macular degeneration, you pull your own cells out of the stem cell bank. Or you can use them to test drugs for toxicity before you take them.

"We’re envisioning replacing existing cells that will stay in the body and not be sloughed off later."

Hirao said,

"We have a very aggressive target: 60 percent growth in revenue each year, for the next five years. We want our cells to be used for drug research and screening and for cell therapy — treating diseases."

Parker said,

"CDI already has three cell therapy programs going — for age-related macular degeneration; Parkinson’s disease; and to replace scarred heart muscle after a heart attack — all using our iPS-derived cells. We anticipate being profitable by the end of 2017.

"CDI has 160 employees, about 120 of them in Madison. We expect to hire another 15 to 20 by the end of 2016, at least 10 of them in Madison.

Hirao said,

"We are trying to change the model. Current drug testing is performed, mostly, using animal cells. By 2019, we want the majority of drug testing to use iPS cells instead.

"Once the market is created, there will be a big jump in sales. That’s why Fujijilm has great expectations for this."

Sunday, December 20, 2015

A Stem Cell Offering to 4 Million Readers in Southern California

The Los Angeles Times today carried an article on the California stem cell agency and its far-reaching plans to create an industrial stem cell powerhouse in the Golden State.

Why is that particularly significant? Because the Times has a Sunday readership of roughly 4 million online and in print. The Times also rarely carries "straight" news coverage of the agency, although L.A. institutions are awash in more than half-a-billion dollars in cash from the agency.

The agency has been largely ignored by the mainstream media in recent years, a subject of some concern to some members of its governing board. They would like to see much more favorable coverage of the agency's efforts.

The Times gave the stem cell story some online prominence with better display than many others. However, that sort of display changes as the day wears on and editors refresh Web pages.

The story originally appeared Friday in San Diego Union-Tribune and was written by Bradley Fikes. The Los Angeles Times and the San Diego paper are owned by the same company and share stories from time to time. Fikes traveled more than three hours from San Diego to cover the story at a meeting of the agency's governing board. The meeting was only 30 minutes away from the Times newsroom.

See here for an earlier piece about media coverage of the agency's $890 million spending plan.

Friday, December 18, 2015

A Look at News Coverage of California's New Plan to Create a Stem Cell Powerhouse

The California stem cell agency received modest news coverage today of the official launch of its five-year plan for spending its last $890 million.

Articles appeared in The Sacramento Bee, the San Diego Union-Tribune and on Southern California public radio. California Healthline also carried a piece that summarized most of the coverage.

The number of stories may seem insignificant to some, but it is much more than the agency usually receives. It has all but vanished from the public eye. Rest assured, however, that situation can change in a flash when something truly bad or good surfaces.

The coverage mirrors that of most state agencies, which operate in obscurity until a dramatic issue flares up.

We should mention that the only news outlet in the state that pays reasonably regular attention to the stem cell agency is the San Diego Union-Tribune. It has assigned Bradley Fikes to its biotech beat. He was the only reporter from the mainstream media at the meeting yesterday of the stem cell agency board.

Also of note was the agency's own blog piece, written by Kevin McCormack, senior director for communications. Here is how his item began.

"The poet T. S. Eliot once wrote: 'If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?' Well, everyone at CIRM, California’s stem cell institute, is about to find out how tall we are."

Here are links to the other pieces: The Bee (written by yours truly), the San Diego Union-Tribune, Southern California public radio (Stephanie O'Neill did two stories, see here and here) and California Healthline. The Bee piece may get picked up the other Bee newspapers in Fresno and Modesto.

(McCormack later reported the KQED radio station in San Francisco carried an item as well.)

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2014					60	1,715	6,019	7,274	5,807	8,448	11,420	9,592	50,335
2015	11,045	8,664	10,383	7,520	9,326	10,344	8,303	10,010	13,230	13,634	13,391	12,145	127,995

	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

	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