Search Results for: macular degeneration

Advanced Cell Technology pub: Trial for Macular Degeneration

February 1, 2021 / By / 8 Comments
ACT-FIgure-1-

The stem cell biotech Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) reported new, positive data in a paper in Lancet from their clinical trials using retinal pigmented epithelial cells (RPEs) made from human embryonic stem cells (hESC) for treatment of different forms of macular degeneration (MD). The paper was entitled “Human embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelium in patients with age-related …

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20 stem cell & regenerative medicine predictions for 2024

January 10, 2024 / By / 4 Comments
Stem cell, crystal ball, predictions

Each year I make predictions for the stem cell and regenerative medicine field for the following year. Today’s prediction post is focused on what to expect in 2024. You can also see my stem cell predictions for 2023 and my grades on how I did. I also have made a video version of these predictions so please …

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Weekly reads: stem cell therapy for eyes research, DMD, cheating death, cancer sensors

September 14, 2023 / By / 1 Comment
stem cell therapy

Many avenues are being pursued to get stem cell therapy to the clinic for eye conditions. These different approaches employ a variety of stem cell types. In some cases, such as with iPS cells, the stem cells themselves are not transplanted. Instead, the iPS cells are used to make differentiated eye cells, such as RPE …

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Parkinson’s disease stem cell therapy research update

October 11, 2022 / By / 1 Comment
Parkinson's disease stem cell therapy

When I first started The Niche more than a dozen years ago, I hoped we’d see a Parkinson’s disease stem cell therapy by now. A proven one. I was a little too optimistic back then. Now in 2022, I know much better how hard translation to the bedside can be in general. Still, I’m hopeful. …

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‘We don’t want to freak people out’: about that Jacob Hanna human embryo model startup

August 18, 2022 / By / 5 Comments
Jacob Hanna Renewal Bio

Stem cell biologist Jacob Hanna has a new startup called Renewal Bio. Its goal is to harvest cells or tissues from human embryo or fetus models for clinical use. I believe that their commercial ambitions have so far outstripped careful thought and discussion in the broader community of researchers. There are major risks here for …

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In big shift Dr. Robert Lanza exits Astellas

July 27, 2022 / By / 6 Comments
Dr. Robert Lanza

The recent news of Vertex Pharma buying small stem cell biotech ViaCyte and Doug Melton moving to Vertex brought to mind an old stem cell biotech called Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) and its leader, stem cell biologist Dr. Robert Lanza. Years ago, big pharma firm Astellas bought ACT and Lanza moved to be a leader of regenerative …

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Overplaying N=1 in the stem cell therapy world

May 16, 2022 / By / 2 Comments
stem cell therapy

The regular emails and phone calls I get from patients asking questions about stem cell therapy are a powerful reminder of the fact that research in our field can be very personal. Sometimes individuals who receive experimental stem cell therapy (or other cell therapies) and seem to have a positive outcome can end up becoming …

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Weekly reads: Yale scientist suspended, WA AG sues clinic, new pubs

June 9, 2022 / By / 1 Comment
Dr. Tami Meraglia has been sued by the Washington State AG for selling unproven stem cells.

It’s very challenging to be an academic scientist even under normal circumstances so when a government starts going after researchers for things like supposed irregularities in funding disclosures, it can cause serious problems if not carefully overseen. We’ll start this week’s recommended reads with the feds monitoring such disclosures and even making referrals to the …

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Grading my 21 stem cell & regenerative medicine predictions for 2021

June 7, 2022 / By / 3 Comments
stem-cell-crystal-ball-300x3001

The world of stem cell research and regenerative medicine is unpredictable but it’s fun to be a part of it and try to do predictions. Each year in late December or early January I make prognostications for the coming year for stem cell research and regenerative medicine. I made 21 such predictions for the current …

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2021 scorecard for stem cell stocks: REGN, VCEL, CCEL, LCTX did best

December 20, 2021 / By / 3 Comments
Mesoblast stock

A quick review of the publicly-traded stem cell stocks I’ve been following in 2021 finds mostly discouraging news, but a few firms relatively outperformed the other publically-traded biotechs. One had some great news today. In this post, I’m doing a brief overview of how things went this year in the regenerative medicine space. I’m going …

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