What is this project?
Stem Cell Assays is a collaborative online project aimed to bring together professionals working in the field of stem cell research and cell therapy to discuss methodological issues that are holding back progress in the field.
Why are we starting this now?
Our inspiration for this project comes from the troubles we’ve had interpreting disparate and at times contradictory results both within our own research and between research groups. Â A diversity of experimental findings is nothing new in research, but given the increased clinical focus of this field, inconsistencies are now affecting clinical trials and leading to public confusion about the science. While much effort has been expended to standardize the cells and materials used for cellular therapy, these efforts have had little effect.
While some part of the failures of the above efforts are simply because not enough people knew the projects existed (Try to find this page via Google search, for example), another way to promote consistency and inter-lab comparability of results is to achieve consensus on what assays are necessary to answer a particular scientific question and how those assays must be performed. The right assays can change the whole scientific concept.
Our mission is to facilitate stem cell research and its translation to the clinic and to business by leveraging the collective efforts of professionals to standardize assay protocols and share data using standard formats. We believe that professionals sharing their experiences will make protocols and assays reproducible across the laboratories and consistent over time.
How will this work?
We will use modern web technologies to aggregate and filter discussion among professionals about how assays should be done and interpreted. Using social and traditional media, we will collect and evaluate information about techniques used to study stem cells and promote “best practices” for particular topic areas. It is our sincere hope that this will lead to a reduction of informational noise, help encourage real offline collaboration among labs, and maybe even save you a little money, too.You can discuss different methodological matters through few web platforms – this blog, FriendFeed, Google Wave, Twitter – and we’ll aggregate and summarize the discussion along with the current best version of the assay.
One final note: This project fully embraces the disintermediation brought about by social media. Whether you consider yourself an expert or not, your input is valuable. Anyone can become an author or contributor. Suggest a topic for discussion and send us links to useful news, products, protocols. Share your protocol with us in an open science setting. Together, let’s show “the experts” that our collective knowledge is too important to be locked up in a book or suppressed by the traditional gatekeepers.
*****************************
picture credit: Colin Cuthbert / Science Photo Library
No related posts.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello,
Such great ambition from both of you. I would like to thank you for such an opportunity, which help the young scientists get the most out of your great experience in this field.
Wish you all the best.
Best regards,
Firas
Thanks very much for your comments, Firas.