Monday night was amazing, with a packed house for the discussion on the Neuroscience of Meditation. Apologies to anyone that was unable to get inside, there was an overwhelming response to the evening. I am definitely working to find a bigger venue for these talks in the future.

Philippe’s presentation is below for those who wanted a second look at the slides. You can also download the presentation below. It includes Philippe’s contact info and how you can enroll in his future studies.

The Presentation
(To move to the next slide, click on the right side of the current slide. Click on the left side to go back.)

Download the Powerpoint Presentation

On Monday night, the DtaS book club discussed Why Zebra’s Dont Get Ulcers by renowned stress expert and local science celebrity Robert Sapolsky. Robert does a great job of describing all the mechanisms and chemicals involved in our stress response, but his section on coping was a bit….ahem light. By his own admission, this is due to a lack of data surrounding the efficacy of some of the more popular treatments.

Our next speaker, Dr. Philippe Goldin, is trying to understand how meditation does impact stress, especially on those with social anxiety. Here’s an excerpt from Philippe’s Stanford website:
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Back in April, Bruce Conklin visted us to discuss stem cells, specifically using iPS cells to be grown into mature adult heart cells to screen drugs. One of the steps in this approach is discovering the specific cardiac cells that are “masters” i.e. the cardiac stem cells.

Scientists this week announced the discovery of a set of cardiac stem cells that express a protein, Islet 1, that give rise to other heart cells. The scientists were able to generate these cardiac master cells from human embryonic stem cells, then isolated the Islet 1 containing cells. These cells were then grown into many various heart cells, from muscles to lining cells.

The hope? A plug and play system for re-growing heart tissue. Scaffolding for repair could be built from the patients own cells, essentially repairing any damaged areas.

Of course, there is a lot of work to be done before this becomes a reality….including reproducing this early work. Many scientists caution that this protein while important, may not necessarily be key in the process as well. In any case, this is another huge step forward in the battle against heart disease this week (the first being calorie disclosure being required at California Fast Food chains.)

More Info:
Science article on Heart Stem Cell Discovery