Month: October 2017

Cord blood for cerebral palsy: mostly discouraging new trial data

umbilical-cord-blood, umbilical cord blood stem cells

Some notable newly published Phase II data from the Duke cord blood for cerebral palsy trial unfortunately doesn’t give much reason for optimism that this approach is going to have a substantial positive effect for these kids. The double-blinded, placebo-controlled study did not find a meaningful benefit overall from infusions of autologous cord blood (ACB) for …

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Stem cell treatment cost: you often don’t get what you pay for

stem-cell-treatment-cost

How much does a stem cell treatment cost? $5,000 is a nice round number that is probably close to the mark on average, but the price varies a great deal and depends on many factors. Factors that influence perceived average price include what one actually sees as being under that umbrella term “stem cell treatment.” Does …

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Countering that Pro-Heritable Human CRISPR WSJ Piece

human-embryo-modification

It’s germline, heritable human CRISPR time, right? Wrong. But the particularly enthusiastic supporters of heritable human CRISPR often cite hypothetical benefits in glowing terms, but either don’t mention risks or strongly downplay them. These fans also tend to leave alternative, proven and safe technologies such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) out of the discussion or …

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ViaCyte Interview on Diabetes Stem Cell Trials & Cool Role of Gore-Tex Tech

ViaCyte, cell therapy for diabetes

When I think of the promise of stem cells for diabetes, the privately held California stem cell firm ViaCyte is the first biotech that comes to mind now. It has promising stem cell clinical trial work building. Today’s post is a new interview with the company’s CEO Paul Laikind. For past posts on ViaCyte see here, which …

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Science humor: penalties we’d get if research was like sports

science-humor-lab-penalties

Time for some science humor. For past attempts at humor on this blog see here. Today, I’m asking: if science was more like sports such as football, soccer, basketball, etc., what penalties and fouls would us scientists get? Here is a humorous look at the things we mess up in small or mondo ways as …

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Shh! 10 stem cell clinic secrets kept from patients

Shh-e1507912252352

For-profit stem cell clinic secrets are bad news for patients. Stem cell clinics are in the business of making profits above all else and to make steady money they need a strong flow of patients as their paying customers for their non-FDA approved offerings. In order to keep the money pouring in, some of the …

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TGIF stem cell weekend reads of papers & news

TGIF-science-dart-board

Bulls-eye! Here are some stem cell weekend reads including both interesting new papers & news headlines. Of course, this week also had stem cell awareness day and I wrote about 10 key issues for the field for the coming 10 years! Weekend reads Papers Chromatin and Single-Cell RNA-Seq Profiling Reveal Dynamic Signaling and Metabolic Transitions during …

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10 for 10 on stem cell day: 10 issues for coming 10 years

Stem-Cell-Symbol-300x298

It’s stem cell day! Or more accurately, it is stem cell awareness day. It’s a good time to think about where our field stands and where we’ll be in 10 years. Below, I’ve outlined 10 for 10: 10 things to ponder about stem cells in a 10-year timeframe. Approved Therapies. How many new stem cell …

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