Vision Archives - The Niche

Weekly reads: stem cell patches, helicase editing, hearing loss, Astellas, Dr. No

October 20, 2024 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

New research on stem cell patches is exciting. However, more broadly, “stem cell patches” can mean very different things. What I’m talking about here are the types of patches that can repair holes or other problems with tissues. This is a powerful regenerative approach. In contrast, I’m not a fan of the type of stem cell […]

Weekly reads: stem cell patches, helicase editing, hearing loss, Astellas, Dr. No Read More »

Regener-Eyes maker gets FDA warning on amniotic eye drops

September 12, 2024 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / Leave a Comment

The FDA alerted the public about issues related to amniotic eye drops last year and now the agency just warned the manufacturer of one such product called Regener-Eyes. The manufacturer is Regenerative Processing Plant, LLC. The warning letter was addressed to its owner, Carl R. Harrell, MD. What’s the deal with this warning? Let’s start

Regener-Eyes maker gets FDA warning on amniotic eye drops Read More »

New suit for vision loss against Cell Surgical Network clinic

November 18, 2021 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 16 Comments

Dr. Alvaro Skupin listing on the Cell Surgical Network website. Screenshot.

A stem cell clinic in the Cell Surgical Network chain has just been sued allegedly for causing vision loss in a patient. By my count, across the U.S. this makes at least 5 patients who have said they were either totally blinded or had some major vision loss after getting stem cells injected into their

New suit for vision loss against Cell Surgical Network clinic Read More »

Weekly reads: vision, MyoD, liver regen, more

September 5, 2021 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

fish-eyes-from-stem-cells, stem cells for vision

I love stem cell research but experiments that have practical possible future applications in medicine like for vision loss are especially interesting to me. On the other hand basic research on core transcription factor mechanisms like by MyoD also really grab me. We cover some of this stuff and other ground in today’s recommended reads.

Weekly reads: vision, MyoD, liver regen, more Read More »

A look at “eyes on the brain organoids” Cell Stem Cell paper

August 17, 2021 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

Sometimes a paper really catches your eye like a new Cell Stem Cell pub reporting eye-like structures grown on brain organoids. The paper is Human brain organoids assemble functionally integrated bilateral optic vesicles. Let’s take a quick look at this paper, its context, and the potential big-picture implications. Brain organoids with “eyes”? At first glance,

A look at “eyes on the brain organoids” Cell Stem Cell paper Read More »

Weekly reads: Stem cells for vision loss & recommended pubs

April 25, 2021 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 3 Comments

stem cells for vision loss ribeiro et al

I’m going to start off today’s recommended reads post with some stem cells for vision developments. I had some fun the last 2 weeks as people sent in their entries for our $100 stem cell picture contest. I’ll announce the winner this week. It’s going to be hard to choose given the great entries. Stem

Weekly reads: Stem cells for vision loss & recommended pubs Read More »

Groundbreaking Organoid Vision Clinical Study: Takahashi Q&A

July 8, 2020 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 8 Comments

Organoid based clinical trials are still rare and a Clinicaltrials.gov search for such organoid work largely brings up in vitro studies. A new clinical study in Japan where organoid material will actually be transplanted into patients is causing a lot of excitement. Organoid clinical trial Masayo Takahashi (高橋政代) is a pioneer in stem cell-based

Groundbreaking Organoid Vision Clinical Study: Takahashi Q&A Read More »

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

December 18, 2019 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 11 Comments

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

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

MD Stem Cells purported Right To Try program

November 3, 2019 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 15 Comments

I’ve been concerned about a stem cell group called MD Stem Cells for many years. Now it comes under more scrutiny from a new must-read piece by Donna Young over at S&P Global. Young’s article reports a puzzling, purported right-to-try (RTT) program that MD Stem Cells appears to working on with Richard Garr. Note that

MD Stem Cells purported Right To Try program Read More »

Vision