COVID-19 Archives - Page 4 of 6

Weekend recommended reads: Athersys, ALS, COVID-19, Fibroblasts, Zoom brain

August 9, 2020 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 3 Comments

What are you reading these days and does it include topics like cell therapies for COVID-19, ALS, regenerative potential of fibroblasts, and why Zoom meetings are so tiring for the brain? I cover those topics and more below with recommended reads including papers and media items. Here’s last week’s recommended reads. Here’s to fibroblasts, which […]

Sniffing Out Stem Cells Behind COVID-Skewed Olfaction

August 5, 2020 / Ricki Lewis / Leave a Comment

In COVID-19, the sense of smell can diminish, vanish, or oddly skew, for weeks or months. The loss usually starts suddenly and is more than the temporarily dulled chemical senses of a stuffy nose from the common cold. As researchers followed up mounting reports of loss of olfaction, a surprising source of perhaps the longest-lasting

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Review of 4 cell therapy types under study for COVID-19

August 3, 2020 / Mina Kim / 9 Comments

stem-cells-for-COVID-19-infographic_small

This is a post by Mina Kim, a UC Davis student intern for The Niche blog, about the main types of cellular therapies being studied clinically for COVID-19. During the novel coronavirus pandemic with millions of COVID-19 cases, the development of safe and effective treatments for patients is vital. Cellular medicine treatments are one of

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Rick Perry plugs Celltex MSCs on Fox for COVID-19 prevention

July 2, 2020 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 10 Comments

Rick-Perry-plugging-Celltex-stem-cells-on-Fox-News

Why is former Texas Governor/Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry plugging unproven stem cells from a clinic firm called Celltex for COVID-19 prevention on Fox News? Perry follows in Giuliani’s footsteps? And more generally, what is it with conservative politicians promoting unproven therapies for COVID-19 and in particular stem cells for the novel coronavirus disease? First,

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BARDA drops funding of research into stem cells for COVID-19

June 29, 2020 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 14 Comments

Katie Thomas at the New York Times reports that BARDA has dropped considering funding applications for stem cells for COVID-19. The move is part of a larger shift in funding priorities away from lung treatments and toward vaccine development. The decision has puzzled and even angered some stem cell firms and researchers. BARDA stands for

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Weekly reads: organoids, COVID-19, CIRM & cool new pubs

June 28, 2020 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

Human-intestinal-organoids-infected-with-SARS-CoV-2-white.-Credit-Joep-BeumerClevers-groupHubrecht-Institute

Organoids are providing a novel avenue into the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and novel models for drug screening. A number of new preprints on respiratory organoids shed new light in this area. They were highlighted in a Nature newsy piece, Mini organs reveal how the coronavirus ravages the body. It’s a challenge to study COVID-19 infections because just infecting

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Research lab ramp-up plan & real-world tips to lower COVID-19 risk

June 14, 2020 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 10 Comments

elephant-in-the-lab-covid-19-lab-ramp-up

My lab and I are fortunate that in our Sacramento-Davis area there are relatively few COVID-19 cases, but what kind of COVID-19 risk mitigation plan should one use for a careful lab ramp-up plan? COVID-19 shouldn’t be the “elephant in the lab”, but should be discussed openly. Communication is probably one key to optimal ramp-up.

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Update on stem cells for COVID-19, Surgisphere scandal

June 11, 2020 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 3 Comments

The term Regenerative Medicine covers so much biomedical science these days including everything from just about any kind of cell therapy (not just stem cells) to CRISPR gene editing, and with the the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems this umbrella use of the term now includes potential treatment of viral illnesses. It can be hard to

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Historic spring storm of FDA letters to stem cell clinic industry

May 17, 2020 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 7 Comments

The FDA has stem cell clinics squarely on its radar screen now and it’s pulling the trigger with many letters going out to this problematic industry. In the past, sometimes years went by with no letters at all or one letter in total to stem cell clinics so this marks a major shift. Background on

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Field throws stem cells for COVID-19 like spaghetti on the wall

May 13, 2020 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 12 Comments

The idea of testing stem cells for COVID-19 may be music to the ears of some folks as an opportunity, but to me from the beginning it sounded mostly like a spaghetti on the wall road to trouble. There is buzz out there that some kind of stem cells or other cells will help with

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