Informational posts on The Niche are primarily intended to educate readers.
I’ve been teaching Histology here at UC Davis School of Medicine for more than 12 years and I lecture on skin among other topics so I’ve made more than one labeled diagram of the skin over the years. I’ve included some in this post. First, below you can see a zoomed0out view of fingertip with […]
Labeled diagram of the skin & skin stem cells in research Read More »
A common question I hear from readers of The Niche is some version of, “Is stem cell therapy covered by insurance?” Sometimes they also ask about Medicare coverage. To be clear, I’m talking about unproven stem cell “therapies” here. The type clinics sell. It’s not FDA approved so generally insurance companies and Medicare will not
Is unproven stem cell therapy covered by insurance? Read More »
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
‘We don’t want to freak people out’: about that Jacob Hanna human embryo model startup Read More »
Histone proteins such as histone H3 are often popping up in science writing and news sometimes includes specific modified forms of H3 including one that we scientists call H3K27me3. What is in this article What is H3K27me3? | The histone code | H3K27ac and H3K27me3 function | H3K27 and human disease | References The goal of today’s post
Histone code series: H3K27me3 & H3K27ac functions & roles in diseases like DIPG Read More »
Organoids including brain organoids are an exciting, relatively new area of research. This technology is having a powerful impact on biomedical science, which is the focus of today’s post. What’s in this post Definition of organoids | Brain organoids | Challenges for mini-brains | Cutting edge cerebral organoids | References Definition of organoids and brain organoids
How brain organoids are transforming research Read More »
Cloning is one of those topics that both fascinates and kind of scares people, especially the idea of duplicating people. I regularly cover the topic here on The Niche because stem cell technologies are involved. Also, one form of the process sometimes called “therapeutic cloning” involves embryonic stem cells. Duplicating mammals has now long been
Weekly reads: freeze-dried cloning, FDA signals, stem cell escapees Read More »
Firms that are active in the biologics space face many possible challenges but the possibility of getting an FDA warning letter is one of the most intense. The goal of today’s post is to explain what an FDA warning letter is all about. This analysis includes what such a letter means and what steps come
What is an FDA warning letter & how should firms respond Read More »
Blastoids are lab-grown models of human embryos that represent a relatively new area of developmental biology research. The goal of today’s post is to give you everything you need to know about this topic. What’s in this article What are blastoids? | How are blastoids made? | Use in research | Blastoids challenges & Ethics
What are blastoids, roles in biomedical research, & ethical considerations Read More »
A few people in the stem cell field keep arguing that adult pluripotent stem cells exist, including so-called “very small embryonic-like stem cells” or VSEL stem cells. These days the supposed cells are called VSELs or V-cells too. Only a handful of researchers have ever been able to report finding and studying these cells. Others
Fact-checking VSEL stem cells & VSEL treatment Read More »
Occasionally a reader of The Niche will ask me about stem cell therapy for hair loss and getting a stem cell hair transplant. I’m interested in this research because I’m fascinated by stem cells. Admittedly I don’t have as much hair as I used to so that’s sometimes on my mind too. So where do
Review of stem cell hair transplant for baldness Read More »