Top 15 Twitter Accounts To Follow For Staying Updated on Stem Cell Research

Stem cells have become medicine’s biggest hope due to their multi-dimensionality: they can help regenerate brain and lung cells and the cells of the connective tissue. The basic feature of stem cells to transform into any type of cell, commonly termed as pluripotency, helped stem cell scientists to branch out as a major area of research known as regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine has been used for bone regeneration, cancer treatment, anti-ageing treatment, nerve cell rejuvenation and heart muscle repair and has been remarkably successful.

Social media is abuzz with comments from research scholars and stem cell experts on CRISPR’s application in combination gene therapy and stem cell therapy. The greatest social media channel available currently is Twitter, which has been growing steadily to become the top choice for understanding industry trends. Twitter currently amasses over ten thousand stem cell followers and Tweets of reputed stem cell labs and research organisations. It helps scientists interact with other eminent research scholars over common research interests, new drug and treatment discoveries, challenges faced along the path of biotech research and find recent research insights from various labs & organisations.

So, if you are working on stem cell research or artificial organ regeneration, Twitter handles of global organisations should be on your radar. Labs, organisations and universities regularly Tweet with their latest updates, engage a sizable number of followers with Twitter conversations, contests and trivia. Look out for these top 10 Twitter handles that are taking the stem cell conversations to the next level with their resourceful links, research insights and treatment proposals in just 140 characters effectively.

(1) @CCRM_ca – An informative Twitter feed with videos, business blog updates, news from the world of regenerative medicine and global insights on Canada’s efforts in Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine. You should follow this feed if you want to know ongoing stem cell research opportunities in Canada. You will be amazed to see the updates from various health centres and hospitals in Canada that work continuously on Tissue/Organ Regenerative Therapy.

(2) @harvardstemcell – One of the largest stem cell research organisations in the world, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) is making in-depth efforts into regenerative medicine and steadily highlights the successes of its inmates through its Twitter feed. HSCI being a group of Stem Cell Researchers within Harvard University’s various departments, it’s delighting to see the warm camaraderie among fellow scientists in the Twitter gallery pictures.

(3) @CIRMnews – It’s almost a sin to miss out California based stem cell research funding agency that considers every stem cell treatment experiment its moral responsibility. California’s Stem Cell Funding Agency’s Twitter feed is full of updates, notifications, rare findings of CIRM-funded researchers and especially archived experimental artefacts from Stem Cell laboratories. If you want to know about Regenerative Medicine in pictures, this is the feed that’s bound to become your favourite.

(4) @nyscf – The official Twitter handle of New York’s Stem Cell Foundation features videos, interactive webinar invites and updates from the NYSCF’s daily happenings. The Twitter feed is also instrumental in uncovering the insights from imminent research scholars affiliated with the foundation. So if you want to reach out to Stem Cell Researchers based out of NYSCF, this is where you should start your search.

(5) @RegMedNet – An acronym for Regenerative Medicine Network, this Twitter handle posts regularly conferences, webinars and commentaries from Stem Cell researchers across the US and Europe. A frequent informer of research collaborations happening between university faculties, industry experts and journal publishers, this is one of the most prized Twitter channels that freelancing scholars should follow for cell therapy updates and opportunities.

(6) @WSCSummit – Another privately held non-profit organisation engrossed in stem cell research and funding, the World Stem Cell Summit’s Twitter handle has garnered a following of more than 9500 Twitter users and remains a top choice for newbies and science journalists for staying abreast of stem cell news from all corners of the world.

(7) @eurostemcell – Europian Union’s funding body for stem cell research, Euro Stem Cell is active on Twitter with its updates on current Regenerative Medicine projects, their status and developments and important commentary blogs from award-winning research faculties based out of Switzerland, Germany, France and other EU countries that received the EU Horizon 2020 funding.

(8) @StemCellTracker – A repertoire of all information you need every minute about the stem cell world, Stem Cell Tracker tracks every single news update on stem cell research. Whether it is from industrial therapeutic research or funded academician’s findings, it’s all on the SCT’s Twitter feed. You can even find chronological evidence of stem cell applications at ease by following SCT’s tweets.

(9) @CellStemCell – The Twitter account of the highest rated stem cell journal has close to 30K followers, so it’s definitely the top choice for checking the trends of stem cell research. If you want to know which companies or academic researchers are making headlines with groundbreaking stem cell therapy discoveries, this Twitter account is where you should land first.

(10) @StemCellPodcast – A public news service that informs audiences on stem cell scientists’ current pursuits through its blog, videos and interviews with research majors. This Twitter handle can be useful for knowledge-hungry people who wouldn’t like to spend much time on reading too much medical literature.

Along with these dedicated stem cell Twitter users, it is worth a shot to see what some key life science industry insiders who are making it big among Twitteratti with their personal commentaries and anecdotes.

@biologyfan – Deborah Sweet’s Twitter handle is called Biology Fan for her in-depth love for all things biology. If you look at her tweets, you’ll find some great doses of biology + humour as well as her encouraging words for great science ideas. For those who don’t know her yet, Deborah Sweet is Cell Press’s Editorial Vice President and also features in CrossTalk, Cell Press’ official blog.

@SusanNYSCF –  Susan Solomon is a name to reckon with on matters related to cancer treatment and medical miracles using stem cells. A strong advocate of stem cell treatment discovery, she founded the New York Stem Cell Foundation after her mother’s death due to Cancer in 2004. She tweets whenever she finds new treatments for genetic illnesses using stem cells and whenever a new cancer is successfully removed using stem cells. She also voices her opinions and thoughts on the challenges patients with rare diseases face every day.

@MrJeffKarp – A Principal Biomedical Scientist and Faculty at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Jeff Karp posts regularly on Twitter on research successes from the industry and academia. The best part is you can read his research works published in international journals and news websites.

@jan_nolta – The Stem Cell Program Director at the UC Davis School of Medicine has been a strong force in propagating stem cell treatment for autoimmune diseases. She tweets about her work on Mesenchymal Stem Cells and retweets key findings from her colleagues. Her tweets offer encouragement to other researchers working on rare inheritable diseases as well.

@pknoepfler – This is Paul Knoepfler’s Twitter handle that every stem cell worker, reader, or writer has to check out since he’s the only academician in the world who takes the time to blog on stem cells (You can access his blog ‘The Niche’ here). We won’t be wrong to call him the Iron Man of the Stem Cells world, for his massive contribution in research findings, books and reviews, and his own experiences as a cancer survivor. Professor Knoepfler’s Twitter conversations tell so much about his humanitarian side and his objectives for propagating research on epigenetics quite clearly.

As research makes its way towards the future, scientific communication is broadening up as well. A good way to evolve your expertise is to become a better communicator of medical and scientific developments and Twitter is evident of that! In hindsight, we must not forget that there are other scientists who, though have innumerable mentions in key tweets, haven’t started tweeting yet! At this juncture, it is safe to say that that time is not too far when we see Twitter assuming greater importance for the biotech industry and academia!

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