The big news of the week was the big FDA stem cell in court by Judge Jesus Bernal here in California, who ruled in favor of a chain of stem cell clinics called Cell Surgical Network. The FDA had been seeking an injunction against the clinics. I believe the ruling was founded in part on …
Weekly reads: CRISPR, FDA stem cell loss, pioneering AMD study, MS, Verve Therapeutics Read More »
As I’ve mentioned recently, it’s my busy time for medical school teaching and not long ago we did a GI lab that included one of my favorite structures in the course: taste buds. Taste buds The medical students seem fascinated with taste buds too. I can tell as their professor when something is particularly interesting …
Weekly reads: taste buds, organoids, good news on CRISPR safety Read More »
The last six months I’ve been spending even more time than usual writing NIH grants (and a few others). The last two weeks have been especially busy on this front as I am getting an R01 renewal out the door. My paper reading lately has been mostly related to the grant writing I’m doing. Still, …
Weekly reads: NIH grants, side effect of darker hair, FDA warning, CRISPR Read More »
Some people consider the brain to be equivalent to a living computer and in that sense it’s too bad that computers don’t have the equal of neural stem cells to help them fix themselves. Is the internet one big neural network-like web? There was a quake in the stem cell internet as CIRM’s main website …
Weekly reads: neural stem cells, CRISPR brain, Vertex, cytoplasm surprise 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 »
We often don’t think of them that way but reproductive cells like sperm and egg are also relatives of stem cells, and it turns out that there are stem cells that make the reproductive cells too like sperm stem cells. Sperm and germ cell stem cells DNMT3A-dependent DNA methylation is required for spermatogonial stem cells …
Recommend reads: CRISPR baby guy free, DNMT3, sperm, Editas, hearing loss, reprogramming Read More »
The big news of the week was a $3.6 million settlement by a stem cell clinic, StemGenex, and one of its doctors in a class-action suit. I covered this StemGenex settlement and so did Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times and Paul Schloesser at Endpoints. I’d say this was good news for the stem cell field …
Stem cell weekly reads: Jamie Thomson, Lamin B1, CRISPR Read More »
About 1 million people are living with multiple sclerosis in the U.S. alone with millions of other cases around the world so a huge effort has gone into trying to find new approaches to the disease including stem cells for MS. We’ll start our weekly recommended reads by talking about a new paper on MS …
Stem cells for MS & other weekly reads: CRISPR, COVID & a bat cave, Huntington’s Read More »
Another busy week including on the grant writing treadmill or should I say Mobius strip, but I’m always on the lookout for new reading and this week a lot popped up on regeneration. Also, a paper on healing and scarring. I regularly write about stem cell journals. For a long time, it seems like Cell Stem …
Stem cell reads: regeneration, 8C, MYC, CRISPR babies Read More »
The big news of the week was the launch of Altos labs and their ambitious plan to tackle aging through cell therapies. Altos has recruited a large number of top cell biologists away from academia. That team plus top biotech execs and a $3B war chest make Altos one to watch in coming years. I …
Weekly reads: aging, CRISPR delivery, hair, oocytes, paralysis Read More »