The big news broke Friday that the FDA approved two new gene therapies for sickle cell disease. While the approvals were expected and the actual use of these treatments will be complex on several levels, this is a historic development. 2 FDA-approved gene therapies for sickle cell Friday’s news follows on recent UK approval for […]
Dr. Paolo Macchiarini exemplifies how things can change quickly in the stem cell world and go from sky highs to deep lows. Stem cell rollercoasters Over the years, a few academic stem cell researchers as well as some operators in the unproven clinic sphere have had dizzying ups and downs. There’s John Kosolcharoen. His company
Paolo Macchiarini guilty in criminal stem cell case but does a Houdini again Read More »
There has been a great deal of excitement during the past several years over the regenerative medicine work of often-called “super surgeon” Dr. Paolo Macchiarini. For an update on Paolo Macchiarini from a recent scathing Vanity Fair piece, see here. Hei has done pioneering work. For instance, he created and transplanted bioengineered windpipes that were produced in
Paolo Macchiarini cleared of misconduct, but some charges remain Read More »
Paolo Macchiarini is one of a small group of people in the stem cell universe whose misconduct has blown up in the press. Piero Anversa, Haruko Obokata, Hwang Woo-Suk, and some operators in the unproven stem cell clinic sphere come to mind. Macchiarini published quite a few seriously problematic papers, some of which just hung
Weekly reads: late Macchiarini retractions, stem cells & Lululemon Read More »
Researchers have been making stem cell-based embryo models for years now and a few folks have taken to calling these “stembryos.” Other names like gastruloids and blastoids are sometimes used too. “Embryo models” might be the simplest and best name. The embryo model research has advanced relatively quickly from very basic, not very organized structures
Weekly reads: stembryos or human embryo models, new Macchiarini sentence Read More »
Remember Paolo Macchiarini, the famous-turned-infamous so-called “stem cell surgeon” who ended up in legal trouble and with trial participants who died? Before we get into this we have a new feature for our weekly reads, which is the stem cell and regenerative medicine tweet of the week. See that at the bottom of the post.
Weekly reads: Macchiarini pub, cloned journal, Mammoth genome, tweet of the week Read More »
This has been one of those weeks where I spent some time thinking about taking risks in science. How much risk one should take? Risks can come in many forms. It could be at the core level at the bench doing specific experiments and not others. There’s risk in clinical trials, and even in advocacy. Sometimes
Weekly science reads: Macchiarini trial, somites, CRISPR babies Read More »
A paper retraction is a major, painful step in science, but sometimes it is necessary and in the past few weeks we’ve seen news of two high-profile stem cell paper retractions. However, these retractions were handled entirely differently by those involved and were prompted by very distinct situations. Update: for some background on stem cell
A tale of two stem cell retractions: stark contrast between Macchiarini & Egli Read More »
Forget retracting a paper, could Paolo Macchiarini try to get a retraction of Vanity Fair piece on his wild personal life an CV? Macchiarini is one of the more well-known stem cell and regenerative medicine researchers, and not always related to good news. You can see read posts I’ve done on him on this blog including
Vanity Fair Dissects Stem Cell Surgeon Macchiarini in Exposé Read More »
Retraction Watch has been a great resource for those of us who have been following research misconduct. They widely cover and conduct research on retractions, corrections, and other developments in this space. Unfortunately, there’s been plenty to write about even just within the stem cell and cell therapy arena, which is my primary interest. Think