Reprogramming Archives

FDA OKs risky, pioneering OSK rejuvenation trial with Sinclair’s ER-100

February 11, 2026 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

The FDA has cleared a trial of ER-100 from Life Biosciences for eye rejuvenation. In the trial, ER-100 will deliver inducible expression of the three reprogramming factors. OCT4, SOX2, and KLF4 are colloquially known together as OSK. This trial is an extension of the work of Harvard professor and longevity enthusiast David Sinclair. The hypothesis here […]

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What is in vivo reprogramming, its potential pros & cons?

October 1, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

Lately, we’ve been hearing more about something called “in vivo reprogramming.” It comes up frequently in the longevity space. Today’s post explains this cutting-edge area of research and its hoped-for, potential clinical applications. What’s most intriguing about vivo reprogramming is that it could potentially regenerate or heal tissues from the inside. It’s both exciting and

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Weekend reads: chemical reprogramming, fat precursors, HSCs

August 31, 2025 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

After Hongkui Deng first reported chemical reprogramming with mouse cells more than ten years ago, I thought that this approach might overtake genetic approaches for making iPS cells. That hasn’t happened. As much as using chemical cocktails allows for iPS cell production without genetic changes, transient genetic approaches can achieve the same kind of outcome.

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Defining epigenetic reprogramming, cellular reprogramming & rejuvenation

September 20, 2023 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

Epigenetic reprogramming is a term used in cell biology that is increasingly ending up in news stories too. Unfortunately, some folks, especially in the cellular rejuvenation and anti-aging space, are getting this term and other things confused. Just to start off, epigenetic reprogramming does not specifically mean cellular rejuvenation. The goal of today’s post is

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Weekly reads: reprogramming aging, astrocytes, cartilage, ChatGPT

January 15, 2023 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

Let’s start with a couple of new pieces on in vivo reprogramming. The idea here is to do something like making iPS cells but doing it inside organisms and not quite pushing cells all the way back to pluripotency. Just younger, healthier cells. Why do that? The goal is to achieve a kind of anti-aging

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Recommend reads: CRISPR baby guy free, DNMT3, sperm, Editas, hearing loss, reprogramming

April 17, 2022 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 3 Comments

We often don’t think of them that way but reproductive cells like sperm and egg are also relatives of stem cells, and it turns out that there are stem cells that make the reproductive cells too like sperm stem cells. Sperm and germ cell stem cells DNMT3A-dependent DNA methylation is required for spermatogonial stem cells

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Weekend reads: stem cells, CRISPR, glioma, stroke, RTT & more

September 29, 2019 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 8 Comments

Every so often I realize I’ve accumulated a bunch of tabs on my browsers of things I need to dive into as time permits, which sometimes translates into a collection of recommended reads here on The Niche. Here are some recommended recent reads in the stem cell/regenerative medicine field and childhood cancer space. It includes

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Fuzzy New Stem Cells Bring Cellular Reprogramming into Focus

December 10, 2014 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

How cool is it that literally fuzzy new stem cells called “F-class cells” bring substantial new sharp focus to the cellular reprograming arena? Remember Project Grandiose led by the great stem cell scientist Andras Nagy? It’s a massive project intended to decipher what makes stem cells tick and how ordinary cells be changed or reprogrammed into powerful

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Cool Cell Stem Cell Paper From Ishii Team on Histones & Reprogramming

March 6, 2014 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

Two of my favorite things are stem cells and histones. When they both come together in one paper and it’s in my favorite journal, Cell Stem Cell, you’ve got my full attention. My own lab is especially interested in the roles of histones and Myc in stem cells. So when I saw a paper a paper from

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