Ocata Therapeutics Inc fka OCAT

[elllk]

rocky and rumit, you both have done a good job of indicating the evidence from the results and conclusions of their previous work, as well as additional comments on same, that Lanza and SCRMI thought they were much closer to a source of universal red blood cells (RBCs) and platelets with hESCs than with iPSCs. That was my reading of it also and you left me more convinced of it. So I now must suggest there is a good possibility that the nature of this Director's Opportunity Award (in Five Thematic Areas) is not a reflection of a change of direction for Lanza et. al. but is more a reflection of priorities set by NIH and includes some that are contingent on the current intense political climate. NIH may very well have made it clear, in various ways, that they were much more likely to fund work with iPSCs than with hESCs. Lanza and Kim may have responded accordingly. I am sure Lanza, et. al., are, in any case, happy to move ahead on both fronts and certainly there is plenty of synergy between these efforts so that impact of work on the iPSCs is almost certain to also benefit the ongoing work on hESCs (and may even allow, one way or another, for the borrowing of a test-tube or two).