Clinical Trials
Stem Cell Eye Therapy Shows Promise: The study in The Lancet is the first published report on embryonic stem cell use in humans.
OBSERVER takes you on a mind-expanding journey to the very edges of science. It will thrill you, inspire you, and lead you to think about life and the power of the imagination in startling new ways.
“Robert Lanza has taken the gigantic step of incorporating his ideas into a science fiction novel with Nancy Kress …brilliant…a riveting and moving story.”—Rhonda Byrne, #1 New York Times bestselling author.
“A startling, fascinating novel.”—Kim Stanley Robinson, New York Times bestselling author.
Meet AIRM’s Chief Scientific Officer: Dr. Robert Lanza
Regenerative medicine could revolutionize medicine, and provide therapies for the world’s most deadly conditions. [Read More]
THE GRAND BIOCENTRIC DESIGN: How Life Creates Reality
Why are we here? Where did it all come from―the laws of nature, the stars, the universe. Humans have been asking these questions forever, but science hasn’t succeeded in providing many answers—until now. In The Grand Biocentric Design, Robert Lanza, one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People,” is joined by theoretical physicist Matej Pavšič and astronomer Bob Berman to shed light on the big picture that has long eluded philosophers and scientists alike. [Read More]
BEYOND BIOCENTRISM: Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death
Host Paul Kennedy has his understanding of reality turned-upside-down by Dr. Robert Lanza in this paradigm-shifting hour. Dr. Lanza provides a compelling argument for consciousness as the basis for the universe, rather than consciousness simply being its by-product.
Observers determine the structure of spacetime itself
The paper—published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (one of the world’s leading journals in cosmology & astrophysics, covering the latest developments and breakthroughs including Stephen Hawking’s groundbreaking work on the evolution of the early universe)—was co-authored with Dmitriy Podolskiy and Andrei Barvinsky, one of the world’s leading theorists in quantum gravity & quantum cosmology. The paper shows that networks of observers define the structure of physical reality/spacetime itself. In particular, it reveals the exasperating incompatibility between Einstein’s general relativity and quantum mechanics vanishes if one takes the properties of observers—us—into account. The study also represents a rare case in physics when the presence of observers drastically changes the behavior of observable quantities themselves not only at microscopic scales but also at very large spatio-temporal scales. Observers determine the value of both the gravitational constant and the effective cosmological constant.
On Decoherence in Quantum Gravity
In his papers on relativity, Einstein showed that time was relative to the observer. This new paper takes this one step further, arguing that the observer creates it. The paper shows that the intrinsic properties of quantum gravity and matter alone cannot explain the tremendous effectiveness of the emergence of time and the lack of quantum entanglement in our everyday world. Instead, it’s necessary to include the properties of the observer, and in particular, the way we process and remember information.
Omni Magazine is back. Featured story:
Building Doctor Who’s Time Machine
What if you could travel through time just like you navigate space? The journey starts here
“Robert Lanza, one of the most prominent scientists in the field of stem cell biology, on Monday said he will lead global regenerative medicine research at Astellas Pharma Inc., the Japanese drug maker that acquired his Massachusetts company this month. Lanza will also remain in his current role of chief scientific officer at Astellas-owned Ocata Therapeutics Inc., which is developing stem cell therapies for a broad range of diseases.”
Lanza delivered the opening address to the judges and students at the Official Opening of 2015 MSSEF held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MSSEF was founded by the prestigious American Academy of Arts & Sciences and has advanced science literacy and inspired new generations of science and engineering leaders for over six decades. 400 distinguished scientists and engineers served as judges, providing the year-end competition with over $525,000 in scholarships and prizes.
Winner of Discover Magazine’s ‘People’s Choice’ Award
Stem cell breakthrough by Lanza and colleagues was voted the year\’s top story, beating the Ebola outbreak, climate change crisis, entangled photons, cosmic inflation, as well as the year’s other science stories ranging from topics in space exploration to mathematics, technology, paleontology, and the environment.
“For a nice two decades scientists have dreamt about using human embryonic stem cells to treat diseases … that day has finally come…scientists have used human embryonic stem cells to successfully treat patients suffering from severe vision loss”
Wall Street Journal [Watch Video]
“In a report published in the journal Lancet, scientists led by Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology, provide the first evidence that stem cells from human embryos can be a safe and effective source of therapies for two types of eye diseases”
“Advancement Could Lead to Treatment for Alzheimer’s, Heart Disease”
Wall Street Journal [Read More]
“After years of failed attempts, researchers have finally generated stem cells from adults using the same cloning technique that produced Dolly the sheep in 1996. The process could provide a new way for scientists to generate healthy replacements for diseased or damaged cells in patients”
“First Embryonic Stem Cells Cloned From A Man’s Skin”
“Since my 20s, I haven’t had to deal with the distractions that come from being able bodied. I’ve led a life of the mind. Stem cells may give you that same freedom, allowing you to pursue your wildest dreams without ever having to worry about the limitations of your body.”
“Dr. Robert Lanza is one of the pioneers of stem cell therapies. He is already using them to help patients regenerate damaged body parts.”
Premiere: Science Channel special, Stem Cell Universe with Stephen Hawking, Feb. 3 at 10/9c.
“I believe [Lanza’s] passionate advice to fledgling scientists to be persistent and not take ‘no’ for an answer will inspire students to stay true to their goals and dreams; it will inspire them to contribute in their classes and their communities, knowing that one day their ideas and inventions will become part of larger endeavors that positively impact humanity,” – Gregory Lamontagne, Vice-President for Academic Affairs, CCRI
Past honorees in other fields have included Dion, Susan Lucci, Tony Danza, Paul Giamatti, Paul Sorvino and Rudy Giuliani
Dr. Lanza received this year’s prestigious Il Leone di San Marco award in Medicine (along with Regis Philbin, who received the award in Entertainment). For 34 years, the Italian Heritage and Culture Committee has acknowledged outstanding Americans in fields such as the Performing Arts, Entertainment, Medicine, Journalism, Literature, Playwriting, Government, Science, Academia or Business. Past honorees have included Stanley Tucci, Paul Giamatti, Paul Sorvino, Danny Aiello, Armand Assante, Tony Danza, Susan Lucci, Dion DiMucci, Phil Ramone, Bart Giamatti, and Rudy Giuliani. Dr. Lanza was one of four people who received this year’s Il Leone di San Marco Award for their “many talents and great accomplishments” who represent the best in Italian-American culture.
Sixteen miles outside Boston, in the back corner of an unfinished basement, a teenage boy lowers his syringe to a chicken egg and takes aim. It’s 1969 and this is Robert Lanza’s first time experimenting with embryos. He isn’t yet a well-known scientist. He hasn’t achieved all those cloning and stem-cell firsts, hasn’t been called genius or renegade. He doesn’t wave to worry about being killed on his way to work. Journalists haven’t come up with the “real-life Good Will Hunting” analogy or suggested that he open his own Jurassic Park. He hasn’t worked with B.F. Skinner and Jonas Salk, hasn’t told off the former dean of Penn’s medical school. He doesn’t have a private 10-acre island and a house filled with dinosaur bones. That will all come later. Today he’s still just a kid, and he wants to win the school science fair. … Robby, the scrawny kid from Stoughton, Massachusetts, will become Bob Lanza—one of the most prominent and controversial figures in his field.
Dr. Robert Lanza featured in “CELLebrity” Doctors 2011 Calendar
Top U.S. scientists hang their lab coats for stem cell research fundraising efforts. The 2011 “CELLebrity” Doctors Calendar spotlights twelve highly renowned doctors in the U.S. and details the progress that has been made in their prospective medical fields. NOTE: All proceeds from calendar sales benefit SCF and will be earmarked towards funding stem cell research in the United States.
Stem Cell Eye Therapy Shows Promise: The study in The Lancet is the first published report on embryonic stem cell use in humans.
For the first time, an experimental treatment made from human embryonic stem cells has shown evidence of helping someone, partially restoring sight to two people suffering from slowly progressing forms of blindness
The first patients to receive human embryonic stem cell transplants say their lives have been transformed by the experimental procedure
Possible stem cell treatment for Macular Degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in older Americans
“This is the first time an embryonic stem cell therapy has been approved in Europe,” said Lanza.
“The initiation of these two clinical trials marks an important turning point for the field.” said Robert Lanza, the company’s chief scientific officer.
“Researchers see the start of a second set of tests, in blindness, as an important landmark for the stem-cell field.”
The great promise of stem cells is finally being put to the test. “We are finally ready to break ground on this field with the first trials,” says Dr. Robert Lanza, “It’s taken a decade of extensive research to get to this point.”
Lanza’s dream of turning human embryonic stem cells into therapies for the sick and the suffering is taking a huge step closer to reality.
NEWSWEEK
Federal officials have approved the start of human embryonic stem cell treatment experiments on patients suffering a leading cause of vision loss.
For only the second time, the Food and Drug Administration approved a company’s request to test an embryonic stem cell-based therapy on human patients.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the second human trial of human embryonic stem cells — this one testing cells in people with a progressive form of blindness.
An American biotech company has just announced that it has been licensed to begin human trials of a stem cell treatment for blindness.
Government regulators have given the go-ahead to a second study that will for the first time carefully test a treatment created using human embryonic stem cells in people, according to the company sponsoring the experiment.
Federal officials have cleared a second clinical trial of a human embryonic stem-cell treatment, a company announced Monday, for a progressive blindness syndrome affecting young people.
NEW YORK (AP) – For only the second time, the U.S. government has approved a test in people of a treatment using embryonic stem cells – this time for a rare disease that causes serious vision loss.
Advanced Cell Technology, of Marlborough, Mass., said it would test its stem cell therapy on 12 adults with severe vision loss caused by Stargardt’s, an inherited disease. The company has turned human embryonic stem cells into retinal pigment epithelial cells, which will be surgically implanted into the eye. The hope is that the implanted cells […]
“…Dr. Lanza’s writings provided me with the pieces of perspective that I had been desperately seeking.”
“I downloaded a digital copy of [Biocentrism] in the privacy of my home…Now, mind you, my motivation was not all that pure. It was my intention to read the book so I could more effectively refute it like a dedicated physicist was expected to. I consider myself to be firmly and exclusively entrenched in the cosmology camp embodied by the likes of Stephen Hawking, Lisa Randall, Brain Greene, and Edward Witten…The book had the completely opposite effect on me. The views that Dr. Lanza presented in this book changed my thinking in ways from which there could never be retreat. Before I had actually finished reading the book, it was abundantly obvious to me that Dr. Lanza’s writings provided me with the pieces of perspective that I had been desperately seeking. Everything I had learned and everything I thought I knew just exploded in my mind and, as possibilities first erupted and then settled down, a completely new understanding emerged. The information I had accumulated in my mind hadn’t changed, but the way I viewed it did – in a really big way.”
An interview with the author of Biocentrism, a book that Nyogen Roshi (the last authorized disciple of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, the foremost Zen master of the twentieth century) describes as mirroring his experiences in the practice of zazen as closely as anything he has encountered in a modern writer.
“My special guest is Dr. Robert Lanza and his extraordinary mind, I just finished reading his book Biocentrism and I said to myself, ‘Finally, aha, somebody that I can totally relate to.’”
“Deepak Chopra”
“TIME Magazine: Top 100 Icons of the Century”
“To give us a glimpse about some of the big breakthroughs that were made in biotechnology, we have Dr. Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology. He is one of the leading scientists making breakthroughs in this fast moving field.”
“Dr. Michio Kaku”
“Professor of Theoretical Physics and Co-Founder of String Theory”
“The Universe in Your Head”
“Stem cell pioneer Robert Lanza generates controversy on a whole different plane with ‘Biocentrism,’ a book that lays out his theory of everything.” Alan Boyle, MSNBC’s Science Editor
“Free Online Abridgment”
“Exclusive online abridgement ‘Biocentrism’: How life creates the universe. Authors say cosmology misses the big picture unless it includes biology.”
MSNBC.com
“First published in 1997, Principles of Tissue Engineering is the widely recognized definitive resource in the field. Co-edited with Robert Langer, Institute Professor at MIT, and Joseph Vacanti, The John Homans Professor at Harvard Medical School (Langer and Vacanti are considered the founders of tissue engineering)”
Foreword by President Jimmy Carter. Includes the last works of Carl Sagan and Jonas Salk, and contributions by Director-General of UNESCO, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, President of the European Parliament, Director-General of the World Health Organization, and the Ministers of Health from the United Kingdom, France, Japan, India and Russia, among others. Conclusion by Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
“This book is as bold and ambitious in scope as its title promises.”
– The New England Journal of Medicine
“There are More Books”. Click Here to See them All
Robert Lanza and Kwang-Soo Kim of Harvard University have won a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Opportunity Award for research in “Translating Basic Science Discoveries into New and Better Treatments” under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Dr. Lanza Recognized as a “Stem Cell Pioneer”
WORCESTER, MA – May 10, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE)—Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (“ACT”; OTCBB: ACTC) announced today that the company’s Chief Scientific Officer, Robert Lanza, MD, has been recognized by BioWorld, a widely-read publication covering the biotechnology industry, as one of 28 leaders predicted to be the “movers and […]
by Sharon Begley
Embryonic” and “senescent” aren’t supposed to go together any more than “good” and “grief” or other oxymorons, which is why biologist Robert Lanza was “devastated” when he saw what was happening with the human stem cells he and colleagues were trying to grow. Like hundreds of other stem-cell scientists, they had been intrigued […]
by Andrew Moseman
When scientists first created induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) three years ago, they were hailed as a game-changing advance for medicine: Scientists hoped the engineered cells could duplicate the talents of embryonic stem cells, which can develop into any kind of cell in the body, while avoiding the destruction of embryos. However, […]
By Alice Park
Stem-cell science is a fast-moving field. Just three years since a Japanese researcher first reprogrammed ordinary skin cells into stem cells without the use of embryos, scientists at a Massachusetts biotech company have repeated the feat, only this time with a new method that creates the first stem cells safe enough for […]
Many years ago, as a young boy, I persuaded myself to make an immense journey.