#alison abbott

[pknoepfl]

Field throws stem cells for COVID-19 like spaghetti on the wall

Field throws stem cells for COVID-19 like spaghetti on the wall

The idea of testing stem cells for COVID-19 may be music to the ears of some folks as an opportunity, but to me from the beginning it sounded mostly like a spaghetti on the wall road to trouble.

There is buzz out there that some kind of stem cells or other cells will help with COVID-19. The reality is that that’s probably not going to happen.

Even so, a whole range of people and firms are…

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[empiricaldaily]

Europe’s troubled Human Brain Project (HBP) has secured guarantees of European Commission financing until at least 2019—but some scientists are still not sure that they want to take part in the mega-project, which has been fraught with controversy since its launch two years ago. (...) Last year, hundreds of scientists signed a petition claiming that the project was being mismanaged and was running off its scientific course; they pledged to boycott it if their concerns were ignored. Since then, the HBP has been substantially reformed along lines recommended by a mediation committee. It has dissolved its three-person executive board, which had assumed most of the management power. And it has committed to including studies on cognitive neuroscience (which the triumvirate had wanted to eliminate). It also opened up for general competition some €8.9 million ($US10 million) of cash previously allocated only to project insiders, and in September selected four major projects in systems and cognitive neuroscience proposed by different groups around Europe.

Alison Abbott. 2015. (Title: Troubled Billion-Euro Brain Project Secures Another 3 Years' Funding)