Month: November 2017

‘Very Alarmed’: North Dakota AG Investigating Stem Cell Clinic

West-2-North-Medical-Solutions-stem-cell-clinic

According to The Bismarck Tribune and the AP/US News & World Report, the North Dakota Attorney General’s office is investigating a stem cell clinic in that state amid complaints. From the news articles: “The clinic has been offering stem cell injections for about a week and a half. Consumer Protection Division Director Parrell Grossman says there are …

‘Very Alarmed’: North Dakota AG Investigating Stem Cell Clinic Read More »

Vote now for finalists for Stem Cell Person of the Year Award 2017

stem-cell-person-of-the-year

We have our 20 nominees for Stem Cell Person of the Year for 2017. Who will get the Award? You have a big role to play in this process. In addition to having had the chance to nominate people, now you as The Niche community get to vote to pick the top 10 finalists. In the …

Vote now for finalists for Stem Cell Person of the Year Award 2017 Read More »

Seeing isn’t always believing: a cautionary tale on GFP transfer when trying to restore vision

Valerie-Wallace

By Samantha Yammine When our TV stops working, it’s usually because one of the wires has come unplugged. We begrudgingly huff and puff over to the back of the TV, track down the loose culprit, plug it back in, and boom: back to Netflix. If you multiply all those wires in the back of your …

Seeing isn’t always believing: a cautionary tale on GFP transfer when trying to restore vision Read More »

20 Stem Cell Person of The Year 2017 Award Nominees

stem-cell-person-of-the-year

Nominations have closed for the 2017 Stem Cell Person of the Year Award and we have a great group of nominees. I’ve listed them below in alphabetical order, along with a bit of description of who they are, which includes in some cases the language used by the nominator(s). Where possible I’ve included a link …

20 Stem Cell Person of The Year 2017 Award Nominees Read More »

Polls: What will stem cell clinics & FDA do now?

FDA

Now that in the past few months the FDA has issued stern statements (one this summer and more recently), both final and draft guidances, and at least one warning letter, what comes next?  What will the clinics do if anything moving forward? What if anything will the FDA do in terms of actual concrete actions? …

Polls: What will stem cell clinics & FDA do now? Read More »

Two more big milestones for The Niche blog

The-Niche-Blog

I started The Niche blog in largely its current form early in 2010, and now 7+ years later we’ve hit two big milestones recently. First, about a month ago, we reached 10,000 comments made on the blog. Thanks for being involved in the discussion on the Niche blog! Second, we reached 7,000,000 total page views …

Two more big milestones for The Niche blog Read More »

Deconstructing FDA Mixed Bag Approach to Stem Cell Clinics

FDA-draft-guidance

In a nutshell, what does all of this week’s big FDA developments on stem cells and regenerative medicine mean for stem cell clinics? There’s much to be upbeat about so overall I’d say it’s good news, but I see three significant potential problems too. Dang. The good news is that the FDA seems determined to …

Deconstructing FDA Mixed Bag Approach to Stem Cell Clinics Read More »

Fat stem cells are drugs: new FDA final guidances

FDA stem cell policy flow chart.

Are fat stem cells a drug? Today the FDA definitively indicated “yes” without leaving much of any room for exceptions on this question. This morning the FDA made a major announcement on stem cell policy regarding its current thinking on oversight of regenerative medicine and issued four guidances, including two each in final and in …

Fat stem cells are drugs: new FDA final guidances Read More »

Stem Cell Person of the Year 2017 Award: Nominations Open

stem-cell-person-of-the-year

Nominations are now open for the 2017 Stem Cell Person of the Year Award, which will be our sixth such award. You can leave nominations as comments on this post or email them to me (see my email on our Contact page). The Stem Cell Person of the Year Award is an honor I give out …

Stem Cell Person of the Year 2017 Award: Nominations Open Read More »

On the threshold of cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease

Dopamine-neurons-derived-from-a-Parkinsons-disease-patients-iPSCs-Tyrosine-hydroxylase-1

By Jeanne Loring There are ten million people in the world who have Parkinson’s disease. 125,000 of these are living in California.  People with the disease often have to step away from their jobs because the main symptoms – tremor or freezing up of muscles – make it difficult to get through a whole day …

On the threshold of cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease Read More »