Blog - The Niche

Winner of The Screamers Science Hype Award: local TV stations pushing stem cell clinics

January 23, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

It’s important to pay attention to science hype, which is the rationale for The Screamers Science Hype Awards. As far as I know, it’s the only award for science hype. Exaggerating research and medical potential clearly does harm. I wrote a few weeks ago about the nominees for the 2024 The Screamers Awards. Now it’s […]

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Updated 2025 List of FDA-Approved Cell and Gene Therapies

January 21, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

What are the current FDA-approved cell and gene therapies? How many of those involve true stem cells? Many of us have wished for a more specific list of FDA-approved stem cell therapies. Patients and fellow scientists often asked me about such lists. They even wish for annotated lists. For that reason, I’ve made and kept

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Weekly reads: FDA modernization, TFs on the brain, mortality timer, pluripotent trials

January 19, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

How will things change at the FDA under the second Trump Administration? It’s a key question for our field but not easy to answer. Most likely there will be more instability at the agency. Some leaders, like of CDER, have already left. in my overall regenerative medicine predictions for 2025, I’ve included more predictions about

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2025 PRP fact-check and review: cost and possible benefits

January 14, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 12 Comments

PRP-Platelet-Rich-Plasma-being-injected-into-a-hand

Platelet-rich plasma or PRP has become one of the most commonly used regenerative products at unproven clinics. The orthopedics departments at many universities are now offering PRP as well. What is behind this trend? How much data are there to back up all this enthusiasm for platelet-rich plasma? The goal of this post is to

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Weekly reads: grow a spine, China clears MSCs, Denise Richards, stem cell soups

January 12, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

If you tell a scientist that they should be growing a spine, they might take you literally. For instance, if you say this because you want a scientist to show some courage and speak out about something difficult, instead they might try to make an actual human spine in a lab. We’ll start there this

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FDA stem cell oversight at risk as clinics to ask SCOTUS to weigh in

January 10, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

The U.S. Supreme Court could soon have a historic opportunity to limit the scope of FDA stem cell oversight. A large stem cell clinic firm now says it plans to ask SCOTUS to review a case it recently lost on appeal to the FDA. If SCOTUS takes the case, the FDA could find its powers

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Georgia AG wins $5.1M judgment against stem cell clinic firm Superior Healthcare

January 9, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

STEVEN D. PEYROUX, Georgia stem cell clinic

The Georgia Attorney General has aggressively pursued stem cell clinic firms including one called Superior Healthcare. There is some more good news from Georgia. The FTC is involved too. Superior Healthcare, et al must pay $5.1 million Georgia AG Chris Carr has won more than $5.5 million in a judgment against this stem cell clinic

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Perspectives as Charles Brenner challenges David Sinclair on longevity claims

January 7, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

Professor Charles Brenner of City of Hope does great research, but I also applaud his efforts against longevity hype. Recently, Brenner and James Timmons publicly questioned some of the work of Harvard Professor David Sinclair. It’s a notable case of academics intensely disagreeing in the public space. Background While it’s interesting, it’s also a somewhat

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Weekly reads: stem cell therapies that work, exosomes, H3.3 K27M, Joe Rogan

January 5, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

How close are we to having new stem cell therapies that work? The field is nearly there on several fronts, but we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. Last week I noted the “soon” in a Nature News headline “Stem cells head to the clinic: treatments for cancer, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease could soon be here.”

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Stem cell therapy for knees 2025: fact-check, costs, risks

January 2, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

One of the most common questions I get from patients is about stem cell therapy for knees. Can it help knee arthritis and pain? Today’s post is a fact-check of where things stand today in 2025 on stem cells for knee issues. You can watch a video overview of this stem cell therapy for knees

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