The Niche’s recommended Weekly Reads on stem cell research and regenerative medicine.
I hadn’t remembered the history of the philosopher’s stone until reading a new review article about stem cells and aging. Here’s the article. Is the philosopher’s stone to rejuvenate blood stem cells an epigenetic regulator? Nature Aging. This preview kind of piece discusses how inhibiting a specific factor called PHF6 can “rejuvenate” HSCs in mice. […]
Stem cells & the philosopher’s stone, P53, thyroid organoids Read More »
As both a scientist who works on stem cells, cancer, and CRISPR, and a research advocate I’ve been fortunate to meet many patient advocates over the years. Some have been participants in clinical trials themselves. Benefits & risks of clinical trial participation It is very sobering to find out that a clinical trial participant has
Weekly reads: death in CRISPR trial, sickle cell, nose picking & dementia, epilepsy Read More »
If you’ve never heard of the KRAS G12C mutation, it’s a particularly frightening mutation present in numerous cancers. Like the MYC oncogene, many people view mutations in RAS as undruggable, but new efforts show some glimmers of hope. The drug Sotorasib has been approved by the FDA to target the KRAS G12C mutation. Here’s a
Weekly reads: KRAS G12C, eLife journal controversy, bird iPSCs Read More »
When you are a stem cell biologist and especially if you do a blog, you sometimes run across very strange things like a chimera cat. In this case, I stumbled on the whole topic of chimeric cats because I was searching for info on chimeric rats on Google. Of course, I was. It’s kind of
Weekly reads: chimera cat vs. chimeric rat, cheap sequencing, more Read More »
It’s always great to read about stem cell clinical trials that are looking encouraging. Stem cell clinical trials Proving a new therapy is safe and effective is so challenging. Remarkably, there are more than 9,300 stem cell clinical trials listed for a “stem cell” search on Clinicaltrials.gov. Of course, not all of these are actual
I’m working to send out a big grant on Tuesday so I’m busier than ever but a few stem cell and regenerative medicine stories caught my eye. I can’t write grants 24/7 without a few breaks although sometimes it feels like that’s what I’m doing. Bat stem cell derivation Pluripotent bat stem cells as a
Weekly stem cell reads: bat stem cells, brainier organoids, more Read More »
When people find out that I’m a stem cell researcher, a common question is whether there’s something they can take that is a stem cell activator. I’ve written before about whether there are stem cell boosts that one can do to try to be healthier. Sleep, stem cell activator and clonality Mostly when I bring
Weekly reads: stem cell activator, sleep & stem cells, clonal hematopoiesis Read More »
How promising is the idea of stem cells for MS? I have been working slowly as time permits on a piece more specifically about hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for MS. Two new pieces caught my eye on this topic so I’ll start with those. Stem cells for MS NurOwn Found Safe, Shows Promise in
Weekly reads: stem cells for MS, blood origins, iPSCs Read More »
A new stem cells for ALS treatment trial represents a big step forward. It’s early days still but this trial shows feasibility and provides a helpful foundation for moving forward. It also highlights challenges. The work is from a team led by Clive Svendsen. Stem cells for ALS treatment trial Here’s the study. Transplantation of
The big news of the week was the big FDA stem cell in court by Judge Jesus Bernal here in California, who ruled in favor of a chain of stem cell clinics called Cell Surgical Network. The FDA had been seeking an injunction against the clinics. I believe the ruling was founded in part on
Weekly reads: CRISPR, FDA stem cell loss, pioneering AMD study, MS, Verve Therapeutics Read More »