I’ve written before about so-called test-tube burgers and bacon and other lab grown meat.
Test-tube burgers
Cells like muscle and fat progenitor cells are the basis for these products. Sometimes stem cells may come into play for such “test-tube burgers” as I generally call this type of lab meat.
Cost seems to be a main obstacle, but as the production scales up that should be resolved. As long as safety is carefully monitored, then the issue of taste comes into play too.
Would you eat a test-tube burger or chicken?
By the way, the illustration I made below is one of my favorites that I’ve done here on The Niche. It spins a classical cell fate tree where stem cells are differentiating into other more specialized cell types such that on one branch you get a test-tube burger instead of a cell.
Why you should eat lab-made meat — really, WaPo. This article makes the case for why we should eat more lab-grown “meat.”
Other reads
- Space travel is dangerous. Could genetic testing and gene editing make it safer? MIT Tech Review.
- p21 Regulates Wnt-Notch balance via DREAM/MMB/Rb-E2F1 and maintains intestinal stem cell homeostasis, Cell Death Disc.
- Judge Rules Against Stem Cell Clinic — Two federal court decisions now hold that fat-derived stem cell treatment is a drug, MedPage Today. Here is more on the Cell Surgical Network lawsuit where a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the FDA after a California judge had earlier ruled against them. This jives with the Florida federal district court ruling, which held up on appeal. It’s not entirely clear what happens next. Could the California judge grant the FDA summary judgment? Hopefully there won’t be an entirely new trial given that two higher courts ruled consistently against the finding of the California judge. I also noted in another recent post that even before this decision there seemed to be a spike in warning letters from the CBER branch of the FDA, which handles biologics like stem cells.
- More coverage of the appeals case from Cal Matters: Some California stem cell clinics use unproven therapies. A new court ruling cracks down.
- Stem cell transplant gives hope for treating age-related sight loss, New Scientist.
Tuft cells in the gut
Tuft cells act as regenerative stem cells in the human intestine, Nature. There are cells called tuft cells in the nose too. I wrote before about how these olfactory tuft cells instruct nasal stem cells to proliferate. One of the things I find cool about both gut and olfactory tuft cells is that they have taste receptors.