IPS cells

Recommended reads: pluripotent stem cells, neural crest, cancer, more

pluripotent stem cell, neural crest cells

There has been quite a lot of pubs on research on pluripotent stem cells published lately. These include some more surprising findings such as a potential role for pluripotency-related programming in neural crest development. Here the week’s recommended reads. Neural Crest research: ties to factors involved in pluripotent stem cells Science, Reactivation of the pluripotency …

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What are induced pluripotent stem cells or IPS cells?

induced pluripotent stem cells clinical trials map

Induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells just might be the most exciting development in the stem cell field over the last 15 years. They have unique potential for clinical impact for regenerative medicine too. This may manifest both through their use to produce differentiated cellular therapies and indirectly via disease modeling as well as …

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Overview of IPS cell prospects for clinical impact

IPS-cell-clincial-trials-map

IPS cell research is a growing area of promise for regenerative medicine. These stem cells, also known as iPSCs or more formally as Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, are engineered cells that are programmed to function the same way as embryonic stem cells. They can be differentiated into possibly any type of cell that is needed for …

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Weekly recommended science reads: stem cells, CRISPR, cancer & more

CRISPR-for-muscular-dystrophy.-Zhang-et-al.-Science-2020.-Screenshot-of-Fig.-2-featured-image

There’s never enough time to get all of one’s science reading done, but we can try! It helps to have a list of “to-read” articles, whether actual research articles or media pieces. In the old days, I remember my mentors saying they literally had “piles” of journal articles on their coffee tables, bathrooms, bedrooms, etc. …

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Stem cell good news, cool pubs, & some hype on living robots

Would-living-robots-be-good-news-Purported-living-robots-made-from-frog-stem-cells-which-are-called-22xenobots22.-This-has-been-hyped

Over time I seem to collect more upbeat stories about stem cells and regenerative medicine as well as cool publications  so today’s “good news” post is a collection of these kinds of things plus one example of huge science hype. Here’s a list of past such upbeat posts. The preclinical good news in rats from …

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IPS cell field update: easy culture, Parkinson’s, scarring, immune cells, & mutations

Fibrosis-model-IPS-cells-Fig-1b-Vijayaraj-et-al-Cell-Reports-2019

Where do things stand today in 2020 with IPS cell research? It’s been 14 years since they were first reported, but they continue to make news. Back in 2006 I was wrapping up my postdoc with Bob Eisenman at The Hutch in Seattle, largely studying Myc, when Shinya Yamanaka published his first induced pluripotent stem …

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Masayo Takahashi (高橋 政代): exciting vision work advancing including with photoreceptors

Masayo Takahashi, 高橋-政代.

Masayo Takahashi is a leading stem cell researcher doing translational and clinical research on vision. She’s doing pioneering work on using pluripotent stem cells as a basis for helping patients with vision loss such as due to macular degeneration. She won The Niche’s Stem Cell Person of the Year Award in 2014 and a number …

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1st autologous IPS cell clinical trial for vision loss in the US

Fig.-4a-Schaub-et-al-JCI-2019-

The NIH announced the launch of the 1st autologous induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cell trial for vision loss in the U.S., focused on macular degeneration. The protocol is based on a solid foundation of pre-clinical animal studies: “Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) are launching a clinical trial to test the safety of a …

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Recent stem cell news: vision, brain organoids, & lab meat

human-corneal-anatomy2

365 days a year, 24 hours a day stem cells are growing in labs around the world, providing a never-ending stream of data and products, with real hope, good news, and lots of surprises. You can see some past examples of good news in the stem cell and regenerative medicine field highlighted on The Niche here. …

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