The Niche’s recommended Weekly Reads on stem cell research and regenerative medicine.
The private cord blood bank industry has promised families all kinds of great things over the years. A typical ad for such cord blood banks might say, “Your child may need cord blood in the future for a cure.” The industry also often uses the analogy of frozen cord blood as an insurance policy for […]
Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells or MSCs are widely used by unproven clinics, but MSC research also suggests real promise in specific areas. Clinics mainly use adipose MSCs (often called SVF) or bone marrow MSCs. However, umbilical cord MSC preparations are getting more popular too. Many questions swirl around the use of MSCs including what exactly are
Combinations of human flesh and robots are more in the news lately. Sometimes the fleshy parts are grown from stem cells in a lab. Robots with fleshy faces Scientists in Japan Give Robots a Fleshy Face and a Smile, NYT. I’m working on a piece about robots in China with small, human brain-like structures. Stay tuned
Recommended reads: flesh-faced robots, ALS, Spina Bifida,neuronal CRISPR Read More »
The proto-oncogene MYC is one of those factors studied in thousands of papers. MYC and its dimerize partner MAX are also seemingly involved in just about everything. They have crucial roles in many kinds of stem cells including adult and embryonic stem cells. One way or another MYC induction seems very helpful for cellular reprogramming
When I was first really getting into stem cells as a trainee the name Catherine Verfaillie came up as a scientist to watch in the adult stem cell area. It wasn’t too long after that though that I started hearing that some of the work from her lab at the University of Minnesota was being
Recommended reads: Nature Catherine Verfaillie retraction, Horvath paper, Vertex Read More »
I’ve only met one scientist who was openly a Trump fan, but I’m sure there are more out there. Still, it seems most scientists are no fans of the former president. A new WaPo piece highlights how federal scientists are worrying about a possible second term for the former president. Government scientists & a second
Recommended reads: gov scientists fear Trump 2nd term, MYCT1 in HSCs, in vivo editing Read More »
When I first saw the new FDA warning on stem cells for pets and the logo for the company that received it, I was surprised in a few ways. I don’t recall ever seeing such a letter and the logo is something else. We’ll get into all of that in a moment, but first, since
Recommended reads: FDA warning on stem cells for pets, chromatin, aging & HSCs Read More »
Do many in the regenerative medicine field have favorite types of stem cells? Some seem to think there’s a tension between those working on pluripotent stem cells like iPS cells and those working with MSCs. I don’t see it that way, though. Whatever stem cells work best for a particular condition should be used and,
Weekly reads: diabetes, GvHD, Novo Nordisk & regenerative medicine, HDACs Read More »
One of the most contentious areas in the regenerative medicine arena is whether a fat tissue product called stromal vascular fraction or SVF is a drug. The FDA says SVF, even in autologous form, is a drug. It is seeking an injunction against a California-based network of SVF clinics but lost the initial case. That
Recommend reads: FDA SVF warning, big Aspen grant, CSI finale invokes stem cells Read More »
Can researchers use CAR-T for lupus? It’s always exciting when one’s home institution has an interesting new therapy in development. Here at UC Davis Health, there has been an increasing stream of such encouraging trials in the pipeline. I’ve written before about the promising trial of stem cells for spina bifida. Now there’s news related
Recommended reads: CAR-T for Lupus, CRISPR vision, journal closures Read More »