Year: 2020

Groundbreaking Organoid Vision Clinical Study: Takahashi Q&A

Mandai-et-al-Stem-Cell-Reports-2017

Organoid based clinical trials are still rare and a Clinicaltrials.gov search for such organoid work largely brings up in vitro studies. A new clinical study in Japan where organoid material will actually be transplanted into patients is causing a lot of excitement. Organoid clinical trial Masayo Takahashi (高橋 政代) is a pioneer in stem cell-based …

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সস্য কোষ (স্টেম সেল) কাকে বলে? What are stem cells in Bengali

Dr.-Anwesha-Ghosh

Note that this is post “সস্য কোষ (স্টেম সেল) কাকে বলে?” in Bengali is one part of our “Stem Cells Not Lost in Translation” series. You can see the full series of our stem cell white paper in the other 34 languages here. সস্য কোষ (স্টেম সেল) কাকে বলে? মানবদেহে শত শত বিভিন্ন ধরণের কোষ …

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Recommended reads: autism, cancer, & nucleosomes

Cederquist-graphical-abstract-Cell-Stem-Cell-2020

A few times a month I do a recommended reads kind of post on more than just stem cells, which people seem to appreciate as a condensed list of new science and medicine. Scientists might ask each other, “what’s in your to-read list?” rather than “what’s in your wallet?” Here are some of the things …

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Rick Perry plugs Celltex MSCs on Fox for COVID-19 prevention

Rick-Perry-plugging-Celltex-stem-cells-on-Fox-News

Why is former Texas Governor/Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry plugging unproven stem cells from a clinic firm called Celltex for COVID-19 prevention on Fox News? Perry follows in Giuliani’s footsteps? And more generally, what is it with conservative politicians promoting unproven therapies for COVID-19 and in particular stem cells for the novel coronavirus disease? First, …

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CRISPR often damages human embryo chromosomes

human-embryo-modification

Three new studies reported in preprints all show severe DNA damage to human embryos from CRISPR a surprisingly high percentage of the time including in some cases loss of heterozygosity (LOH). Anywhere from about a quarter to half of CRISPR’d embryos exhibited major genome damage. As readers of The Niche know, I never was a …

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BARDA drops funding of research into stem cells for COVID-19

Rick-Bright-BARDA

Katie Thomas at the New York Times reports that BARDA has dropped considering funding applications for stem cells for COVID-19. The move is part of a larger shift in funding priorities away from lung treatments and toward vaccine development. The decision has puzzled and even angered some stem cell firms and researchers. BARDA stands for …

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Weekly reads: organoids, COVID-19, CIRM & cool new pubs

Human-intestinal-organoids-infected-with-SARS-CoV-2-white.-Credit-Joep-BeumerClevers-groupHubrecht-Institute

Organoids are providing a novel avenue into the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and novel models for drug screening. A number of new preprints on respiratory organoids shed new light in this area. They were highlighted in a Nature newsy piece, Mini organs reveal how the coronavirus ravages the body. It’s a challenge to study COVID-19 infections because just infecting …

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20 best biology & stem cell blogs for 2021

Stem-Cell-Symbol-300x298

Today’s post lists the best stem cell blogs and more generally the top biology blogs as well as websites. Making lists of “the best” of anything is fun yet tricky. However, I feel that it can also serve a purpose as a resource. You might also enjoy these other “top” lists I’ve done including List of …

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Getting 30 F grades? FDA Strongly Warns Exosome Firm EUCYT

EUCYT-CEO-Travis-Bird

The FDA dropped a lengthy, extremely critical warning letter on a supplier of unproven exosome product called EUCYT Laboratories. For broader context, exosome therapy has somehow burst onto the scene when there’s no good data yet in my view to back up its use in the clinic. The FDA is taking notice with letters already sent …

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