Contact Us

In terms of contact information, this site is produced by the Knoepfler Lab at UC Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento, CA, but our official address is 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616.

Stem-Cell-Symbol, The Niche Mission
The Niche Symbol.

The posts are generally written by Dr. Paul Knoepfler who can be reached at knoepfler@ucdavis.edu.

You can also reach out to contact via making comments on posts on this blog.

Dr. Knoepfler tries to respond to most emails and comments that directly ask questions or make contact about issues on this site.

See also our privacy policy page as well as at the bottom of the website our disclosures and comment policy, as your questions may be answered there as well.

Please also interact with us via Twitter @pknoepfler.

Find out all about us and our research here.

158 thoughts on “Contact Us”

  1. Meanie cuellar

    Hi, I’m a 33 year old that’s had a motorcycle accident over 7 years ago I’ve come to find out that I have compression fractures, schmorl nodes, traumatic scoliosis, and severe stenosis. Never damage that cause both arms to go numb my right leg always hurts from the sciatic nerve. Recently I’ve had my head tingling and both eyes are low. I’d really like my life back pain free and to be able to do things with my three growing boys please get back to me! 🙏🏻

  2. I am a 73 Yr. Old stroke survivor who has no functional use of my left arm or hand and has a wonky leg. Is there any clinical trial evidence that stem cell treatment would assist recovery ??

    1. My husband has the same problem, and is told by his doctor to try concentrated platelet therapy. To me, it’s another version of “stem cell therapy”, which doesn’t make sense at all. I asked my hubby to ask himself some questions and then decided on go/no go.
      1. is it covered by insurance?
      2. is it FDA approved?
      3. Is it part of clinical trial?

      these three questions pretty much provide some information for MoA behind this therapy.

      When we are desperate for a solution to illnesses, we tend to only listen to what we want to hear, and ignore the fundamental truths.

      1. Christopher Rogers

        PRP is not stem cell therapy. Most studies show that high dose PRP (> 3 billion platelet) better than steroid injection for shoulder pain. Low dose PRP no better than placebo. Only one study shows that adipose stem cells helpful for healing large rotator cuff tendon tears (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29790618/) But this treatment not available in US, and requires FDA approval.

        PRP does not require FDA approval, but treatment is not standardized. More than 60 different FDA approved centrifuges devices used in U.S.

        Before doing PRP, ask your doctor if they:
        1. Use cell counter to determine platelet dose.
        2. Maintain a patient registry (e.g. DataBiologics).
        3. Perform injections with ultrasound guidance.
        4. Board certified in orthopedics, physical medicine or sports medicine.

        Otherwise, you are wasting your money.

  3. Thanks for the following RMAT list. It is very beneficial.
    https://ipscell.com/rmat-list/

    By the way, the list has the following description. I would like to ask the following four questions about that description, quoted below.

    ” It was updated as of November 12, 2020 with 48 RMAT total. Note that the FDA has recently updated it’s RMAT totals to indicate that it has approved 52 RMATs as of mid-2020 so about 8 are not in the public domain.”

    (1) 52-48=8?
    If 48 are identified out of 52 RMATs, there are probably four unidentified RMATs. Why “8 are not in the public domain”?  8=Four withdrawn + Four unidentified ? If so, what are the Four withdrawn ?

    (2) What do you mean by “approved” in the above description?
    Other literature seems to use the word “designated,” but your article uses the word “approved”. What does the word “approved” mean in your description above? Perhaps it means “It has the right to take some shortcuts and the right to lower the bar on/for the FDA’s review.” So, I think it’s a different concept than ‘sales approval’. Am I right?

    https://www.rhoworld.com/rmat-designationwhat-is-it-and-is-it-right-for-your-therapeutic-product/

    (3) What is the “approved 52 RMATs”?
    As far as I know, the destination of the drugs designated as RMATs are to be either “approved for marketing,” “rejected,” or “not rejected but lose their RMAT privileges”. Am I right, if understanding that these 52 RMATs are “the total number of those that are still RMAT only”? (That is, “52 RMATs” does not include “those that gained RMAT privileges at some point in the past but are no longer RMAT”?

    (4) The FDA rejected Mesoblast’s Ryoncil recently; was this removed on November 12, 2020’s revision?
    https://www.biospace.com/article/fda-rejects-mesoblast-s-remestemcel-l-for-graft-versus-host-disease/
    In the version prior to “November 12, 2020’s revision” , there are 49(48+Ryoncil ) identified RMATs out of 53(52+Ryoncil ) RMATs?

    Best regards,

    1. Hi Akihiro,
      Thanks for the additional info, which is useful. For clarity I changed the word “approved” to “granted”.
      Per the FDA RMAT page (https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/cellular-gene-therapy-products/cumulative-cber-regenerative-medicine-advanced-therapy-rmat-designation-requests-received-fiscal) they have granted 55 RMATs, but I only have seen 48 in the public domain. There of course may be others in media reports that I haven’t seen. I’m not sure I ever included Ryoncil as an RMAT. Best, Paul

      1. Hi Paul.

        Thanks for your quick reply, and thanks for the quick update.

        I think it is true that the Ryoncil cannot get FDA’s approval to sell. However, I am not sure if Ryoncil ever had the privilege as an RMAT. This may have confused you, sorry.

        After the update, the revised text and the FDA’s table appear to be consistent. The new total of 55(=11+18+16+10) is the sum of the columns named’ Granted,’ right?

        However, there is no legend for the FDA’s table on the FDA’s website, so I can’t determine whether the category of ‘Granted’ includes “the candidate drugs that once became the RMAT, but are no longer the RMAT.” The difference between ‘Denied’ and ‘Withdrawn’ is also be unclear in the FDA’s table. But,
        “Denied” is likely a category that includes “the candidate drugs that never became RMAT” and,
        “Withdrawn” are likely “the candidate drugs that once became RMAT but was no longer RMAT.”

        In that sense, it might be more accurate to say;
        “as of November 22, 2020, there are 55 candidate drugs that are still RMAT” and,
        “as of November 22, 2020, there are 61 candidate drugs that had at least once been RMAT”; here, 61=55+(2+2+2).

  4. Hello! Please consider adding The NYSCF Conference to your list of 2020 events. This translational stem cell research meeting annually convenes over 500 participants from academia, industry government, non-profits, and patient groups. This year’s keynote will be given by Carl H. June, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania. Additional speakers will include world-renowned, multi-disciplinary scientists, who will present their latest findings about the transformative impact of stem cell research on numerous diseases with a high unmet need. This year’s conference will be held virtually, October 20-21. Thanks!

      1. Paul I did stem cells corecyte 2cc’s. By predictive biotech. I got an intramuscular injection and am glaring like mad with lupus, 5 days ago
        Will my lupus calm down? Is this common with lupus?

  5. I have various conditions linked to being atopic. I have a non science background but have read various papers on MSC’s and their immunodulatory effects. I have contacted the researchers appreciating they can’t comment on my medical condition. Many have said they are along way from treating humans. One stood out in Australia whereby trials on mice had good results on airway hyperresponsiveness, including airway remodeling, with subsequent treatments. They had tried to approach hospitals treating asthma to partake in human trials, but the hospitals felt asthma was well controlled! They are therefore going to trial Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This then led to me to Cynata who I believe are supplying the stem cells. What I realised, excuse my ignorance was the sheer numbers of stem cells required to treat human conditions and this made me appreciate a lot of the claims made by various clinics were questionable.

    I recently contacted a clinic in the US as I have chronic rhino sinusitus, allergies, asthma etc…. and received a reply saying ‘yes we can help you’. The feeling was quite over whelming following experiencing the complete opposite from the medical establishment,including botched nasal surgeries. I got exactly how we as patients can get a false sense of hope in some of these unregulated clinics. The clinic has publicly replied to an FDA letter. The doctor concerned seems very genuine and her past employment suggests someone quite compassionate. But how do I know the authencity of Chara Biologics?

    I note there are no trials here listed for asthma, upper airways, allergies etc…. Interested to know of any

    1. Nina,

      Three of my family members were scammed with the “amniotic and cord blood bait and switch” sales gambit and found out via Dr. Centeno’s (MD) Regenexx blog and now we regularly benefit from reading Paul’s(Ph.D.) work on the Niche, both of which are very helpful.
      From our family’s collective experience, as well as all the people reporting illness from amniotic and cord blood products to the FDA/CDC, where the FDA/CDC state that there is no known method of sterilization for these unlawfully marketed and sold products:

      https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/pdfs/mm6750a5-H.pdf

      https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-sends-warning-companies.

      Good for you to be researching before making a move that you may potentially regret.

  6. Hi Team at ipscell

    How are you?

    Do you offer article placements on your site: ipscell.com

    – We would get the Spanish article written which will fit the nature/topic of your site.
    – In the article there is a good chance there will be a link going to a gaming/betting review site, which will be very well integrated.
    – Payment can be made via Paypal or bank transfer.

    What are your rates for such a placement?

    Thank you.

    Kind Regards,

    Lisa – Media Manager
    Webcontentzone

    If you would prefer not to receive any further communication from us , please reply “not interested”.

  7. Andreas Georgiou

    Hi Paul

    I sent you an email yesterday in regards to my father. I was given your details by Madeline Lancaster at Yesterdays stem cell seminar in the UK. In short I was wondering if you could help? my details are on the email I sent you

    hope to hear from you soon

    Andreas

  8. My aunt saw an add on Facebook and went to a luncheon for stem cell. She was informed that she was a prime candidate although she has bone on bone knee conditions. They enticed her with compliments of “we’ll put you in our ads” because she is very active and beautiful. After $7k and several injections, she is still in pain and they have banned her emails and calls. I saw on their reviews that they offered 100% money back guarantee although no one has received it. Here, in Florida, small claims court can only obtain up to $5k. The local news has these jokers on for publicity. My aunt wants to sue them. I want to expose them to warn others not to participate. She needs this money to get knee surgery. She’s 76 today and works a part-time job to make ends meet. She can barely stand now and is in pain 24/7. Can you advise? Thank you for all you’re doing on this subject.

    1. I’m sorry to hear about that, Diana.
      I hope your aunt feels better. There are some possible things to do be done after one feels they’ve had a bad experience with a stem cell clinic. I have made a page about possible options: https://ipscell.com/report-bad-clinic/. Depending on the route one chooses, it might be wise to consult an attorney. The big international society of stem cell researchers, called ISSCR, also now has a resource page now: https://www.closerlookatstemcells.org/2019/09/10/injured-or-misled-by-unscrupulous-stem-cell-clinics-heres-what-you-can-do-about-it/. If you/your aunt have time and are comfortable with it, please circle back in the future to tell us what you decided and how things turned out.

    2. avoidthestemcellscam.com

      Diana Wiggins,
      Based solely on our family experience only and what we have learned,
      I would Find out what the name of the product that was used on your aunt is and I would have her call the Florida Department of Health and report her situation. They may recommend that she send a request for her medical records as it is her right under HIPPA to do so. By getting the Florida Department of health involved, they will give the physicians approximately 10 -14 days to send her a copy of her requested medical records. If the company that injected her does not comply, then that is the department of health’s direct route into the investigation of the company and possibly a foundation for your aunt’s case. They will also want her to provide to them the records that she receives. This helped our case as far as the physicians being held accountable with respect to licensure as well as identifying possible issues that threaten public health. It may also be good to be aware of “ Informed Consent” signatures being touted as the holy grail when they are not , especially when patients are being lied to as in our case and were injected with a substance that was declared by the FDA that was never intended to be used in humans. Intent is key.
      If she was injected with an amniotic and cord blood product, then on her paperwork in her medical records there should be batch numbers associated with her injection. Furthermore, the fact that the amniotic and cord blood products are usually not donor and host matched as they should be in any cell or blood transplant creates a risk for graft versus host disease ( GVHD) per the former compliance director of the product that was used on our family that nearly killed one of our family members and has infected another one severely with diseases that modern medicine cannot cure.
      Upon further inquiry, the former compliance director of the product used on us, that we contacted directly, instructed the company that the product was to be used “for research purposes only” and never to be injected into humans therapeutically.
      As far as I know, all 361FDA registered amniotic and cord blood products are labeled “for research use only.” so, unless you signed an informed consent document stating that you agree to be a research subject and be injected with a product labeled “for research only,” then you could want to follow up with the Florida Department of health recommendation to be tested for at least eight communicable diseases and see the FDA/ CDC September 2018 MMWR about the serious infections and abscesses caused by these amniotic and cord blood products.
      The article also States that these products are being sold and marketed unlawfully and that there is no known method of sterilization for these types of products.
      FYI, we became pro se and our own civil case because we felt that we are managing the cause of it
      ( justice for ourselves and awareness for others) a lot better than the former counsel. The former counsel wanted us to sign a settlement agreement that stated that we would not use our insurance to be treated for any conditions caused as a result of the injectionS for 30 months! One of our family members would’ve died had we have signed that and had the complications that we have endured and are still enduring. We also learned that one of the main actors in this whole amniotic and cord blood situation has already been indicted by the US government for healthcare fraud in another FDA loophole where certain insurances were paying for compounded products that are not FDA regulated. The former FDA Director stated several times in many posts on this website that the amniotic and cord blood products that are 361 FDA registered are being misused and out of the spirit in which the 361 FDA registration was intended. She can also Report to FDA- Med Watch
      Hope this helps. As far as small claims, amounts are small. Civil court amounts are higher and negotiated settlements prior to trial do not have a cap as far as I know at this time. It is rough all the way around being made more physically incapacitated by what was supposed to be a treatment to help. These appear to be mostly marketing companies masquerading as medicine and exploiting vulnerable adults for cash without regard to consequences suffered by their patients, with the goal being a profit. Where are the FDA and DOJ when their posts are being commanded by the people they claim to support?

      Thanks for posting, Paul. Feel free to edit as you need too. People need help!

  9. Hello
    Would you say that your post on stem cells and Autism are just an assumption and not by personal experience? The post that included the Stem Cell Institute and Dr Riordan? I do have personal experience and can tell you that there were noticeable improvements with my son

    He started focusing for hours
    He started holding conversations
    His GI system healed to the point I did not have to use all his dietary recommendations
    His abstract thinking improved
    He started answering the wh questions like who what when where and why.
    He started having a personality and wants and not wants etc etc!

    It has been more than 5 years since his last stem cell treatment and his gains have stayed and he has no complicated side effects that we know of to this day.

    What does the United States offer for our Autistic children? Autism has been growing rapidly for years.

    I do believe in Autism and stem cells and always will because they improved my sons life, they didn’t heal him but his life improved so much that I would do it all over again.

    I am only writing this because of my personal experience and my belief that stem cells can and will improve a life because they healed and improved my sons!
    Thank you for your time in reading my post.
    Weeks

  10. After the FTC hammered California’s Regenerative Medical Group last October for delivering false and misleading information to patients, certain affiliated stem cell mills across the USA cleaned up their acts somewhat by, among other things: changing their titles from “Stem Cell Therapy Clinic” to “Stem Cell Regeneration Clinic”; shifting their “product” from (dead) amniotic cells to mesenchymal cells; and pulling back on (not revoking) their previously over-extended rhetoric.
    Question: Are the injectable mesenchymal cells – that also are freeze-dried and processed – alive (thus defying FDA regulations) or dead (thus misrepresented and standing in violation of FTC’s Fair Trade standards)?
    And, yes, I am in the process of formulating a complaint against an unscrupulous chiropractor (and others) for their assuring me that amniotic stem cell injections would banish the symptoms of my neuropathy, e al. The injections were never identified by manufacturer, brand name or composition. Today, almost six months later, no results – neither positibve nor negative – have been noticed.
    Yes, I am submitting complaints to appropriate agencies. This is buto ne step
    I absolutely will not mention or quote the NIH or any person associated with NIH without your prior consent.
    David Timm

  11. Saditt Ramos Garcia

    Would you please look at Table 1. S5. “Grading of Evidence”.

    It is from a modified approach to grading of evidence published in the same medical journal in 2014.

    This way of grading is confusing to me and I think it may confuse the article readers

    Level V: (the lowest level of grading, “Consensus”?

    Level III: in spite of being in the middle of grading, it has only one relevant high nonrandomized trial or observational study with …

    I may be wrong. I haven’t finished reading it yet. I thank you in advance for your opinion.

  12. Saditt Ramos Garcia

    Pain Physician. 2019 Jan;22(1S):S1-S74.

    Responsible, Safe, and Effective Use of Biologics in the Management of Low Back Pain: American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) Guidelines.

    Navani A1, Manchikanti L2, Albers SL, Latchaw RE, Sanapati J3, Kaye AD4, Atluri S5, Jordan S, Gupta A6, Cedeno D7, Vallejo A8, Fellows B, Knezevic NN9, Pappolla M10, Diwan S, Trescot AM11, Soin A12, Kaye AM, Aydin SM13, Calodney AK14, Candido KD, Bakshi S15, Benyamin RM16, Vallejo R16, Watanabe A17, Beall D18, Stitik TP, Foye PM, Helander EM19, Hirsch JA20.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30717500

    1. Saditt Ramos,

      You are in the right place! I truly appreciate the Niche and Paul and the collective gems available here! This is a link ( that may assist you as well) to Dr. Chris Centeno’s site called Regenexx. A Consensus Document was created among peers that shares the same opinion about orthobiologics pertaining to the use of FDA 361 Registered HCTP’s that are sold to the public as “stem cell therapy.”
      It is easy to understand and very helpful.

      https://www.regenexx.com/blog/consensus-document-on-amniotic-and-umbilical-cord-scams/

      Also, my family received injections of these 361 FDA Registered HCTPS as we were told by the DC and MD that we were purchasing actual living stem cells from a live, healthy human birth and that both the donor and the tissue had been screened and were safe when they were not living stem cells at all or apparently safe. We created an informational website to help called avoidthestemcellscam.com.

      1. Regenixx took me for a ride too. They gave me PRP when they told me I was getting Stem cells and when that did not work they said they would do another procedure for another $4000.00.

  13. Saditt Ramos Garcia

    Respected Paul Knoepfler, Could you please comment on thsi article from the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, published this January. For what I am reading in train to prepare a thesis about unproven stem cell interventions, this article appears to give a real boost to sttem cell clinics as most of its authors work in private pain centers. I’ll really appreciate your perspective before writing about it. Saditt Ramos, Bioethics Master student (peruvian physician).

    1. avoidthestemcellscam.com

      Aubrey,

      That is a gReat idea! Add a patient review section! We have attempted to share our experience with an amniotic and cord blood product that made our 3 family members very ill. Plus, We directly contacted the former compliance director of the company that made the product that was used on our family and he stated that the product was never intended to be used therapeutically and humans and is labeled for research use only. You can check out helpful information here on ipscell, as well as our story, at avoidthestemcellscam.com.

  14. Greetings from Pathology Week,
    19th Edition on World Pathology Week (Pathology Week 2019), going to be held at Tokyo, Japan during June 19-21, 2019. Would you be interested to be part of this most happening congress.
    Website: https://pathologyweek.euroscicon.com/
    Awaiting for your response.

    Regards
    Joseph Anusha | Program Director
    Pathology Week 2019
    WhatsApp: +442382146717

  15. Hi guys, does anyone know if Stem cells can actually help a cervical disc? I’m getting mixed reports, my disc has lost a little height already.
    All the best

  16. I see you are part of the medical establishment. That explains why you are so skeptical. My husband is doing much better with COPD after stem cell therapy and PRP inhalation. Don’t know why it works since you are so sure it is of no value! But I’m sure as hell glad he’s doing it.

  17. Highly criticised reprogramming paper from Lopez-Otin lab was retracted in Nature Cell Biology today 17 Dec. 2018. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-018-0259-0

    Retraction Note: NF-κB activation impairs somatic cell reprogramming in ageing
    Clara Soria-Valles, Fernando G. Osorio, Ana Gutiérrez-Fernández, Alejandro De Los Angeles, Clara Bueno, Pablo Menéndez, José I. Martín-Subero, George Q. Daley, José M. P. Freije & Carlos López-Otín

    Retraction of: Nature Cell Biology https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb3207, published online 27 July 2015.
    We, the authors, are retracting this Article due to issues that have come to our attention regarding data availability, data description and figure assembly. Specifically, original numerical data are not available for the majority of the graphs presented in the paper. Although original data were available for most EMSA and immunoblot experiments, those corresponding to the published EMSA data of Supplementary Fig. 8a, the independent replicate immunoblots of Fig. 8b and Supplementary Fig. 1e, and the independent replicate EMSA data of Supplementary Figs 6e, 8b, 8c and 8d, are unavailable. Mistakes were detected in the presentation of Figs 3c, 4i and Supplementary Figs 6a, 8a, 8d, 9, and in some cases the β-actin immunoblots were erroneously described in the figure legends as loading controls, rather than as sample processing controls that were run on separate gels. Although we, the authors, believe that the key findings of the paper are still valid, given the issues with data availability we have concluded that the most appropriate course of action is to retract the Article. We deeply regret these errors and apologize to the scientific community for any confusion this publication may have caused. All authors agree with the retraction.

  18. Any input/advice out there about how to find out about others who have had a less than positive experience with any of the “Stem Cell Centers” clinics across the country? I admit I’ve been duped and now would like to be effective in the effort to keep others from being taken advantage of. Stem Cell Centers engages in false and deceptive advertising, misrepresentation and financial elder abuse. If there’s a class action out there, I’d like to join!

  19. I had a Fusion on my C 5-6. & woke up to Hornets Syndrome in the left eye left sideweakness , both legs weak, +involuntarily muscle spasm + other complications. Dr said I had a contusion ” nerve damage ” on the left side of the C 5-6. I’m looking into Stem Cell Therapy

  20. Hello Paul,
    Would you like to cover PubPeer issues about this paper on your blog? https://pubpeer.com/publications/836AB3A8AB4FD562A2D4CBFBF8ED18
    This reprograming paper in Nature Cell Biology has been gaining highest attention on PubPeer for half a year. Already received 157 comments, actually more than Jacob Hanna (155) and Obokata (138). Unlike comments on Hanna’s papers which were mostly meaningless quarrel, most of comments to this paper centered on lots of inconsistency and manipulation of raw data. And mishandling of patients’ samples of rare disease is ethically improper. To my knowledge, this is the most criticized paper in stem cell field. The paper was authored by a Spanish cancer researcher and George Q. Daley who is famous in reprogramming field and is known for his leadership on correcting STAP papers (De Los Angeles, 2015 Nature). He is supposed to possess high standard in scientific integrity enough to have corrected faked-reprogramming papers of others (both Obokata and Woo-suk Hwang cases), who had surprisingly revealed his lower bar of double standard in his own papers. For example, reporting expression of pluripotent genes in human adult fibroblasts in this paper is hard to believe contradiction. Unfortunately, PubPeer cannot be much help because PubPeer is sensitively censoring for most of Daley’s papers.

      1. Paul you rarely mention Mesoblast , it’s going to bite you big time and very soon not sure why my belief is because it’s Australian…
        Vincent

  21. gaurav singh ghurayya

    Dear paul,
    I just want to know that while choosing a stem cell banking what factors should matter to finalise the beats one.
    with regards,
    gaurav

  22. Juli Unternaehrer

    Hi! I’m hoping you will soon post a list of stem cell meetings in 2019? Thanks so much for helping us keep track!

  23. Dear Mr Knoepfler,

    I came across an odd piece of information – that pluripotent stem cells from breastmilk “build infants’ organs and support their development”. Is it possible for a – to a certain extent – genetically different cell to be incorporated into someone else’s body? Are such cells not digested in the stomach in the first place? And if they survive, is it possible for the human gut to absorb them into the bloodstream? It is based on some studies by Foteini Hassiotou, who seems to be attached to the idea that these cells might be “vitally important” for infants’ development.

    Best regards 🙂

  24. Hi Paul! It is hard to sift through what is bullshit and what isn’t bullshit. I suffered a few concussions recently and I am worried about CTE/ severe post concussive syndrome. Is stem cell therapy through the Neurogen Clinic (in Mumbai, India) a viable route? They have published results and sifting through them it is not like they make any extraordinary promises (give back full cognitive capacities). Thanks for the read, and keep doing what you are doing.

  25. Dear Paul Knoepfler,
    Thank you for your blog and I admire your passion in stem cell topic, which are widely frown upon by the skeptics. I have great interest and passion in stem cell topics and hope to try out the stem cell products that are administered via IM. Is there any way you can provide recommendations on couple of IM stem cell products that I can try at budgeted $5k+ for regenerative cells and health benefits? I really would appreciate if you could take your precious time to recommend a few company IM stem cell products worthy to try for good results. I don’t mind you will email me in private if you prefer this way. It would be great honour to hear and learn from you!

    EJ

    1. Good Evening El’Jin,

      You may be interested to watch these sereis on THe Healing Miracle.

      Maximum blessings,
      Rosanna

        1. No infomercial. Your mind will be blown away:) It is free to watch only today, last day. Please take a look.

          Sincerely,
          Rosanna

  26. I’m looking for any scholarly articles that contrast stem cell source for knee osteoarthritis (OA). I’m a 57 year old former soccer player with knees that are beat up but not too bad yet (some pain after activity). Considering a stem cell procedure and so I’m looking for a good article that compares the different stem cell sources for knee therapy. Thank you!
    Carl…

  27. Thank you doctor for your informative blog on fat stem cell therapy. However, I thought you might have newer info. on this. I have torn off tendons on my shoulder. It was suggested that fat stem cell therapy might help regrow new tendons. Hard to believe. Can it? Also, I was told that now FDA has approved this procedure. Has it?

  28. Paul ,
    Came across this today …… Stem Cells

    Rapid Technological Innovation

    http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170704005093/en/Defining-Future-Stem-Cell-Industry—Interviews

    “As a result of this technological innovation, the stem cell industry is undergoing rapid change. As of July 2017, a search for stem cells yields the following results:

    – 5,932 Clinical Trials – Search conducted via ClinicalTrials.gov, a global registry of clinical trials that contains approximately 3/4th of trials worldwide, using the terms stem cell or stem cells

    – 45,283 Patents – Search performed using the United State Patent and Trademark Office website, USPTO.gov, using the terms stem cell or stem cells

    – 296,399 Scientific Papers – Search performed on PubMed.gov, a global database of scientific publications maintained by the NIH, using the terms stem cell or stem cells

    – Google Trends identifies that stem cell terms are widely searched in countries worldwide, led by Singapore, China, UK, USA, and Australia – Google Trends is a service of Google Inc. that identifies how frequently a particular search term is entered relative to total search volume worldwide

    Undoubtedly, there is enormous interest surrounding the stem cell industry. However, this rapid technological changes leaves all industry participants wondering, what will be the future directions for the stem cell industry over the next 5, 10, or 15 years?”

    For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/jcz5bf/defining_the

  29. Hello Paul,

    I want to introduce my self My name is Ivan Conde I am doing a Master in Production of Cell Therapy  and Gene Therapy, do you have a good recommendations  for a book for Gene therapy production or just Gene therapy ?

    I will appreciate any info that you could provide me,

    Best Regards,

    Ivan Conde

  30. Hi Paul, I’ve been pretty desperate to find out more about what’s going on with Dr. Lanza’s stem cell-based AMD treatment since it was sold to Astellas. I did find out something (I really don’t know exactly what it means though.) Here’s what it is. Their latest R&D Pipeline document just came out, and I was able to find it online after some digging. Under the ‘others’ category of drugs, there is this info:
    RPE Cell Program, Cell Therapy (retinal pigment epithelium cell), Dry age related macular degeneration Stargardt’s macular degeneration P-II/US, Dosage form injection, Inhouse (Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine.)

    Does this mean that this trial is now in Phase II? Is this a hopeful sign that it’s even on the list? I know that you have so many topics to cover, but could you please consider doing a blog post on this one? So many people are so absolutely desperate for this treatment to come through, and there is NO treatment for dry AMD. I cannot begin to tell you what this would mean to me, and there are millions of others in similar boats. Could you make some kind of comment on it?

  31. @admin – Go inside liveyon.com A lot of interesting language about the FDA but they are selling umbilical cord MSCs to doctors in the US to treat patients. They are basically saying, “We will sell you these stem cells but it’s up to you to figure out if you can use them on your patients or not.”

  32. doctor in the hosp[iatl said that i may be siffeirng from adukt fazio nde disease instead of bulbar mnd but he is not sure so i may be staring to new treatment of Ribofalvin do you treat this kinf od disease tks

  33. What ever became of Lanza, Ocata and their research & trials around the eye. I know they were acquired – did it just get shelved or deeme3d not workable?

      1. Paul, Please… please… PLEASE check this out if you can. This means everything to me because of the medical problems I’ve had. PLEASE!! I’ll do anything to find out what’s going on!!!! Okay, that’s enough of the embarrassing begging… but believe me, this is very serious. (Cathy Danielson)

  34. I can understand and respect Paul’s unhappiness at the startling growth of the back-door, illegal amniotic stem cell operations. How can we account for its growth? Surely there must be a modicum of success involved in the use of amniotic stem cells?

  35. I have a disease called adhesive arachnoiditis. I have such severe pain that to keep the non stop flare from doing me in, I have been on 1040-1080 MME. Out of the blue my insurance decided to stop my 320mg of OxyContin. This has just kept pain where I can lay down 24/7, but have zero quality of the life. The NIH recognizes this as a rare, incurable disease, yet stupid doctors who have never heard of the disease says I have too much, even though it took 5 years to get to a high enough level.

    That said, my family is pushing for the stem cell treatment that you say is all red flags, they say that the FDA study is approved but the stem cells aren’t, this sounds impossible. They offer NO numbers from the FDA. They are charging $20,700. They are planning on injecting a paste into several places and then the rest is an IV. My family knows suicide is the next place to turn so they want me to try. I don’t know that you respond or will respond, but since suicide is the only thing left as the government is working on genocide for any person with intractable pain. I thought my Congressman might help. I sent the CDC report that defined palliative care but the Office of Personnel Management which oversees the BC/BS federal employees program sent the Congressman their own definition saying that Hospice and palliative care are one and the same. I told the Congressman’s office , he was lied to, but they didn’t care.

    Isn’t suicide a better option than stem cells that are unregulated ? How can one live in a Country when pain patients are now ALL considered addicts unless they have or have had cancer. Those folks can have as much opioids that their body says they need, the rest of us are told we have NO value in society and genocide is on the rise!

  36. ADMIN:

    I began reading some of the comments on the blog today and your limitations on allowing people to post their individual experiences with different clinics is idiotic and you obviously only do this to cover your own perceived liability rather than take the opportunity to let communication flow freely. The comments I saw naming clinics were not naming those in an effort to advertise, but to help others. Your half hearted attempt to provide this site which is an advertisement of your services is a disservice to all those coming here to truly learn about the advent of stem cell treatments. You should be ashamed of yourself for portraying your blog as a tool to obtain information and then censure the information because it is not in your financial interest. Call it what it is.

  37. Dear Paul,

    Can you please add the:
    ‘Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research (ASSCR) and Australasian Gene and Cell Therapy Society (AGCTS) Joint Annual Meeting in Sydney, Australia 24-26 May 2017’ to your list of upcoming meetings?

    Thanks,
    Robyn

  38. Hi Mr.Knoepfler,

    I am a student from Sickles HIgh SChool in Tampa and I had sent you an email regarding an inquiry for an online interview about stem cell ethics code and processes based on your personal experiences. I was wondering if you could please respond or let me know if you have read it. The email address is amadeobrandon@live.com

  39. Matthew Burkhardt

    Paul,

    SMA has a long history in the iPSC field. Any way you could make some inquiries and find out to what extent, if any, iPSCs played a role in the Spinraza development and approval?

    Thanks so much, and great work.

  40. Hi Dr. Knoepfler,

    Could you suggest a journal for a manuscript? It was reviewed by Stem Cells as follows:

    (It) is of practical interest. However this work is technical and descriptive and better suited to a journal that focuses on stem cell technology.

    Thanks!

  41. Hi Paul
    I just read the article about your work in the Reed Alumni magazine : Engineering the Human Race. I look forward to reading your blog. Have you read the work of the anthropologist Paul Rabinow on synthetic biology and Genomics? I just finished reading and recommend to you Designing Human Practices, an Experiment in Synthetic Biology

    Tim Allen. Reed 1983

  42. Dear Dr. Knoepfler,

    As you may know, there still continues argument in Japan – primarily on the web though – over the STAP fiasco and Ms. Obokata’s misconduct. There are good amount of advocates for Ms. Obokata, who then try to make up and spread out speculative stories in which Ms. Obokata didn’t have to play misconduct but was just taken in by her colleagues. To make it worse, there are some journalists who write magazine/ web articles based on such speculations without sound scientific criticism.

    Fed up with this movement, a scientist advanced his/her own investigation by analyzing genome of STAP related cells and by interviewing a former member of Wakayama lab, of which results are summarized here:
    http://expo70.xyz

    Just thought you may find this to be interesting.

    Regards,
    EY

  43. krishnendu dutta

    Sir,
    My son suffers from ‘AUTISM’ we have tried all that is possible for us.
    While surfing the net i came across a clinic ‘EmCell in kiev’ that administers ‘Fetal stem-cell ‘Theraphy’ as i am keen on such a theraphy -I am a little confused about the reports…..though I sincerly believe that the Doctors at EmCell are doing a great job yet i feel should there be any side-effects though they have ruled out the possibilities of any side-effects in the last 20yrs.
    Pls advise me whether i shall take my son to kiev?
    Thank you
    Krishnendu Dutta.
    Calcutta.

  44. Dera Doctor Paul;
    i have a monoir question to ask you i m suffering fom bulbar MND SINCE LATE 2012
    RIGHT NOW I HAVE EXCESSIVE SALIVA SPEAK SLUGGISH AS WELL AS SWALLOWING PROBLEM CAN HELP ME THANKS DO U THINK THAT STEM VCLL CAN HEKLP ME IF OK WHAT IS THE COST INVOLVE AS I M NOT WORKING THANKS DON NG

  45. Dr Knoeplfer
    This is in relation to my post dated 24/01/2016 regarding the case of Malignant Right MCA infarct.Sir i would like to mention his age as on 24/01/2016 is 60.
    I look foward to your response.

  46. Hi Dr Knoeplfler

    I have a case that i would like your input on.
    On 12/07/2008(India) my father was diagnosed with MALIGNANT RIGHT MCA INFARCT and underwent right FTP DECOMPRESSION CRANITOMY AND BONE FLAP PLACED IN ABDOMEN UNDER GA ON 15/07/2008.
    He is currently able to walk only with assistance .
    I want to know if there is any way a stem cell treatment(either in India or elsewhere) can assist with the damage done to the brain and restore his sensory and motor function of left side
    I look foward to your response

    Thank you

  47. Dear sir/madam,
    I would like to ask your kind advice about my 5-year-old case, a cerebral palsy patient, since 3 years ago. His doctors, here in Iran, are hopeful stem cell therapy to improve the current condition, which is a tough one for the parents. Stem cell treatment can be performed in Iran by Iranian specialists, but the problem is to find an appropriate donor, since we have no access to either umbilical cord blood of the same child, or HLA-match donor. I have attached his HLA typing result for your kind attention. Very much appreciated if you let me know whether it is possible for us to find a suitable donor in your centre, and what is the process through which, we may obtain the stem cell for this patient. I am impatiently waiting for your kind feedback.

    Yours sincerely,
    Dr.Abedi M.D

  48. Thanks so much for your tips on how to complete the new NIH Biosketch. Sadly, my contributions to science are more modest that curing cancer, creating an ebola vaccine or winning the Nobel Prize. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express…

  49. Can you comment on the current state of the immortal strand hypothesis for stem cells as you see it? As a modeller, it is very confusing to sift through the pro and con arguments, when I don’t have a good understanding of the limitations of the labelling technology.

  50. @Ekta – cirrhosis means the liver has accumulated scar tissue, which can have numerous causes. Scar tissue has replaced the normal liver tissue and results in a loss of function.

    The liver is one of the most active self-regenerating organs in the human body but if scar tissue accumulates, then the cells cannot regenerate. If enough damage has taken place to be life-threatening then a liver transplantation is the only solution. If however, there is still some liver function, then therapies exist to stop or delay progress of disease and minimize damage to remaining liver cells.

    Currently, there are about 30-40 clinical trials using stem cells (various types of autologous or allogenic mesenchymal stem cells (MSC)) therapies aimed at supporting residual liver functions. Depending on the cause of diseases (hepatitis, autoimmune, etc) there are number of approved pharmaceuticals, albeit in most cases the liver degeneration still progresses.

    Other clinical trials aim at introducing stem cells that have been differentiated into hepatocytes (liver cells) or should do so once transplanted. All of these stem cell developments are in the early stages and none have yet reported success in regenerating a fully or even partially functional liver.

    Relevant to this thread, there are many stem cell clinics claiming to alleviate or even cure liver cirrhosis using non-approved MSC transplant procedures, but their claims are not supported in any way by clinical trial results and most professional clinicians would distance themselves from these claims.

    If you know of anybody thinking of taking their name off a waiting list for a liver transplant in favor of an unregulated stem-cell therapy, then please tell them not to do so. At least on the list there is a chance, however rare.

    Wolf (wolfram.mardin@dcemail.com)

  51. add a stem cell treatment of Wilson disease can be difficult to do? His control of a patient’s treatment options?

  52. Hi Paul,

    I must thank you for your excellent book “Stemcells an insiders guide”
    At the end of last year i had the idea that Stemcell therapy could help me and i searched high and low on the internet for information.
    Then i came across a video of Dr.Roberto Shapiro and i just could not stop watching this video,i thought that finally i saw a talk by somebody had seen the light.
    After that i discovered a video series of Dr Arnold Caplan’s talk in Panama.
    His talk was very informative.After seing this talk i felt something of a expert.
    I am now at page 83 of your book and i aam starting to understand that autologus stemcell therapy is not going to be a option.

    So why not using a medicine to release stemcells from the bone marrow would this not be a very safe option unless this medicine does more damage then good.
    I think that i have seen a video with a talk of Dr.N Reirdon on youtube how used to be a cancer researcher.
    As for me i have a mild or beginning toxic polyneuropathy and even if it is a beginning or mild case i am not sure what the outlook for the rest of my life is going to be so i am looking at options

  53. Thanks for your answer, Mr. Knoepfler.
    I think we both agree that 3-parents technologies are not 100% inevitable. But I still wonder how they could be prevented. The main point of your Open Letter is the risks of such procedures for the new human being. But did risks ever count for much in modern human interference of reproduction? The first-generation pills were of high risks for women (and even the modern forms have non-neglectible side effects). IVF is a risky procedure, for the women – and even more for the new earthling. Statistics say that only 3% of the fertilized zygotes finally get born (I dont know if these numbers include or exclude pre-karyogamy zygotes). In other words there is a 97% risk for the embryo to live hard and die (very, very) young. In this view, already IVF without features like mitochondrial donation is a “premature” procedure, which should not have been allowed.
    The risk of deceased babies by “pure” IVF does not seem to bother many people, so why should any one, let alone a majority care about the severe risks of mitochondrial donation? If a baby might be disabled as a result – hey, just remove it while it is in the belly; that’s what our society is already used to.

    And a little further: if I understand you well, you do not oppose the technology in question as a principle, but “only” at this early stage with its high risks. How low has the risk to be in your view to render m.donation acceptable? What could valid criterions be (as we are not talking about curing an ill child, but preventing it)? How many times greater must the chance for preventing m. disorders (this figure being always only a probability) be than the chance of producing disabled children this way?

  54. tol masayo takahashi,
    I lost my central vision early in 2009 due to Plaquenil toxicity I need to know if you stem cell retinal regeneration is a viable option for my retinal disorder.
    I am excited about your new research

  55. Hello Dr. Knoepfler,

    I’ve read your very informative Open letter to UK Parliament (Nov 2, 2014) concerning “mitochondrial donation”.

    But I am asking me (and you): Is your position unavoidably condemned to failure?
    Once IVF and embryonic stemm cell reasearch etc. are regarded as “good”, how can one expect that the follow-ups like “mitochondrial donation” are seen as “bad”? In other words: if the taboo of intervention in the procreation of men has fallen, why should there rest any taboos, any “stop-signs” afterwards?
    Of course, society and everyone have always a choice – in principle. But once it is signaled to all: “Hey, you can ‘make’ your child!”, won’t it be futile to expect that in fact this would not be extended to “Oh, I can make my child as I want/ as I ‘need’!”

    What do you think?

    1. Thanks for the comment, March. You raise some interesting questions.
      I do think on one level there is a very strong chance that the UK will go ahead with “mitochondrial donation” no matter what I or anybody else says. Still, I feel strongly that the technology isn’t ready for use today and raises complex ethical questions so it is important to try to spark discussion even if practically speaking it may not make a difference. They seem to be in a rush mentality and have a powerful group lobbying for it.

      But you are asking more of a long term question it seems. I do not think that once IVF was approved that it 100% inevitably leads to new more extreme forms of IVF that include tinkering with the human genome, but certainly without IVF it wouldn’t be technically possible. Still I can see your point. The embryonic stem cell connection you suggest seems more tangential to me since it is not about making a child even though it too relies on IVF.

  56. HI Paul, we have been actively working with NHS UK to introduce a cooler bag for the transportation of stem cells, etc.. I believe this is something that could be introduced everywhere and improve the security when transporting such delicate products.. let me know if you would like more information. http://www.coolicebox.com

  57. Any news on stem cells curing sensorineural hearing loss? Any clinical trials? The thought of a cochlear implant upsets me too much. I want my hearing back! It’s like being tortured everyday.

  58. are YOU ready to fire up the human tissue bio regeneration machine This year, medical doctors? I know I am! do YOU all need a human lab assistant, to Safely study on, right Now?!?! Here I Am To Save Your Bio Medical Bio Regeneration Day! Yes YOU Can!

  59. Hello.
    Help me find a cure for his daughter!
    You own more detailed information.
    I read about the treatment of the cells (restore neural connections in the brain).

    Kind regards,
    Liudmyla.

  60. Hi I was wondering if you have any products for a 46 year old female trying to get pregnant.if not do you have any clinical trials.i live in toronto and I am willing to travel

  61. ابنى مريض بالسكر وعمره 4 سنوات ونصحنى طبيب بعد عمل التحاليل الازمه بعمل عملية الخلايا الجزعيه له ينتهى مرض السكر من ابنى تماما وطلبوا ان يكون المتبرع من اقارب الدرجه الاولى

  62. Having both knees done Friday 9/19 in Dallas.
    If it works as described- I will become the number 1 salesman in 3 to 6 months.
    Otherwise- I will be getting them replaced in 1 to 2 years.
    Worth it to me.
    I will let you know. I will be taking daily notes.

  63. What is transcription factors and how do we define differentiation, pluripotency are the key to understanding Lanza’s magic cells?……eMSC

    So here are the definitions from wikipedia TF “In molecular biology and genetics, a transcription factor (sometimes called a sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that binds to specific DNA sequences (ATCG), thereby controlling the flow (or transcription) of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA(mRNA)”

    Differentiation “Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can divide (through mitosis) to produce more embryonic stem cells. Therefore embryonic stem cells, which are isolated from the inner cell mass of blastocysts.”

    What is the different between of blastomere and blastocysts?
    “Early mammalian blastomeres are thought to be flexible and totipotent allowing the embryo to overcome perturbations in its organization during preimplantation development. In the past, experiments using single blastomeres from 2-, 4- and 8-cell stage mammalian embryos have provided evidence that at least some of the isolated cells can develop into healthy fertile animals and therefore are totipotent. We investigated whether isolated blastomeres of human 4-cell stage embryos could develop in vitro into blastocysts with trophectoderm (TE) and inner cell mass (ICM)”

    The four blastomeres of a 4-cell stage human embryo are able to develop individually into blastocysts with inner cell mass and trophectoderm

    Embryonic stem cells and progenitor cells “act as a repair system for the body, replenishing adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all the specialized cells—ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm, but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs and cells , such as epithelium, blood, skin, or intestinal tissues.” The main cells we are interested in are the repair of the epithelium to mesenchymal also known as EMT.

    OCT4 and SOX2, NANOG can combine both ‘‘repression’’ and ‘‘activating’’ modifications; they are enriched in embryonic cells relative to differentiated and or Pluripotency cells; and they are associated with genes encoding transcription factors with roles in embryonic development and lineage lines. In differentiated cells, the genes tend to be controlling with the regions located either an activating or a repressive methylation expression. Methylation is CH3 in an enriched CpG( cytosine nucleotide occurs next to a guanine nucleotide) regions on the DNA.

    Are not ACTc blastomere pluripotent stem cells and and are they not pre- embryonic in the sense of embryology phase? The laymen associates embryos with blastomere cells which function in the microenvironment…..

    Are ACTc cells mislabel from a science point of view?

  64. Hello Dr. Knoepfler,

    I am a student at UC Davis and a follower of your blog. I missed my chance to ask you this question on your Reddit AMA so I thought I would try here instead. There’s been a lot of buzz recently about 3D cell scaffold technology and the exciting implications that it can have for stem cell research and maybe even therapeutic use. As an expert in your field, what do you think about this technology and the hype surrounding it?
    Thank you for your time.

  65. Are doctors such as yourself so timid about not applying any potential cures unless the FDA says so? I know see how the FDA is in bed with Big Pharma in your country. I suggest that you wake and open your eyes, the whole world is passing you bye on Stem cell therapies, which work. If they did not work, patients would be the first to state so.

    D. G. Patino MD, PhD.

  66. How can the editor in chief (Shyam kakkar) of JOR be one of the authors in his own journal yet declare no conflict of interest. I would like to point out that JOR has been publishing a number of VSEL related paper with editor in chief being author in several of them? does it really mean that those papers got published after a fair peer review?

  67. Pingback: iPS Cells may promote increased risk for cancer.

  68. I recently read the following regarding iPS stem cells:

    Increased risks for cancer?

    But a study that has just been published in the journal Cell Death and Differentiation, to be followed by two articles in the journal Nature, is dampening those hopes. Conducted by the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Geneva and the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, with the participation of Trono’s laboratory, it concludes that these reprogrammed cells exhibit a “genomic instability” that appears to be caused by the process used to return the cells to their embryonic state.

    Even more serious, the genetic mutations observed resemble mutations that are found in cancer cells. The scientists draw the conclusion that reprogrammed stem cells need to be extensively investigated before they can even be considered for use in regenerative medicine.
    The experiments were done using mouse mammary and fibroblast cells. The researchers used three different processes for reprogramming the cells to a “stem,” or embryonic, state. The first method was developed expressly for this study, and the others have already been well documented.

    Yet all the processes led to the same, implacable conclusion: the genetic anomalies multiplied, in a manner that seems to indicate that they are inherent to the reprogramming process itself, which typically makes use of oncogenes. “Interestingly, oncogenes have the potential to induce genomic instability,” the authors explain.

    These results underline the necessity of conducting further studies. First, to see if the genetic anomalies are serious enough to compromise the function and stability of cells regenerated using the reprogrammed cells; and second, to “refine the methods used for generating induced pluripotent cells, in order to avoid this problem. These results will thus motivate scientists to come up with a solution,” concludes Trono.

    What is your opinion?

  69. You are a bit behind on the STAP committee news …

    http://www.biosciencetechnology.com/blogs/2014/05/many-%E2%80%9Cacid-bath%E2%80%9D-stem-cell-investigators-are-investigated

    Cynthia Fox
    Tue, 05/06/2014 – 3:05pm
    Many “Acid Bath” Stem Cell Investigators Are Investigated

    Most members of the committee investigating the Nature “acid bath” papers are now under investigation themselves.

    But in the middle of the pondering: more trouble. Shunsuke Ishii, head of the committee charging Obokata with image falsification and fabrication, was charged himself (first by anonymous Japanese scientist/bloggers, then others) with errors in a 13 August 2007 Oncogene paper of his own. The problem: cutting and pasting gel images. He explained this occurred so the order would match explanations in the text. On April 26, he offered to resign.

    On April 28, still more trouble. Nobel prize-winning induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) researcher Shinya Yamanaka held a press conference in which he apologized for a problematic image in a paper of his from 2000. He had not held onto notes from the scientist responsible for the problem. He was cleared by his university. The situation was markedly different. His body of work is highly reproducible, unlike Obokata’s, and his iPSC technique is used in labs worldwide. But only days before, he was counseling students to stringently avoid careless errors. He appeared shaken as he apologized, according to Science.

    see the biosciencetechnology blog for complete article.

  70. Here is evidence of Obokata copy / paste (XXXX edit) research contents without author’s permission and citation.
    Obokata’s thesis Introduction on thesis:
    http://stapcells.up.seesaa.net/image/Background.pdf
    Obokata stole 200 pages of contents from paper at:
    http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/pages/basics1.aspx
    Comparison of differences between two articles:
    http://altair.dbcls.jp/difff/dev/obokata_copypaste.html
    So, do not waste your precious time on STAP cell more.

  71. All she said was no more than sophistry. Whether there was need to repeat the same experiment up to 200 times. (XXXX edit) There should be no problem to write a paper if you can reproduce the same results in about five times. Attrition that it takes one week at a time experiment for STAP cell preparation, that 200 time x 7 days = 1400 days, three years or more. Well then, you will not believe that she did STAP cell 200 times. If she had had true STAP cell why she copy/pasted four images from her doctorate thesis, and until now she has not provided true image for STAP cell while she said she did 200 time repeated experiments. If write 1 page note for single experiment, she would have written a note of 400 pages, but there will be a note of the four books in this bamboo.

  72. Do not waste your time on STAP cell.
    http://stapcells.blogspot.jp/
    Open in Google chrome. On sub-manual bar click translate Japanese to English.
    (XXXX edited) History can prove it. She copy / paste four pieces of images from her Ph. D. thesis and used them in her paper published at Nature. She did copy / pasted 20 pages on Stem Cell research from NIH review paper and included in her thesis exactly even without citation and permission. Look at this site how many copy / paste she has done until now:

  73. Hello Dr. Paul Knoepfler, thanks a lot for providing clarification in this Obokata’s STAP cell issue. I appreciate that you are covering all the bases pretty well. I look forward to reading your new postings. One item which has been missing with these batch of scientists is that humility of accepting what they did was wrong, prior to submitting the manuscript. If the purported manuscript underwent so many revisions, at least at one stage, the faked photos and cut and paste gel column clip could have been replaced by the ‘real’ ones. Don’t you think so?

  74. Paul have you had time to look at Lanza embryonic MSC paper ?

    New Mesenchymal Stem Cell Population from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Displays Potent Immunomodulatory and Therapeutic Properties
    March 24, 2014 04:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time
    MARLBOROUGH, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (“ACT”; OTCBB: ACTC), a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, and its collaborators reported today that it has discovered a new method to generate a potent and replenishable population of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from pluripotent stem cells. The research appears online ahead of print in Stem Cell and Development, one of the top stem cells journals, published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. This new and proprietary population of pluripotent stem cell-derived MSCs displays potent immunomodulatory and therapeutic properties and has a greater than 30,000 fold proliferative capacity, relative to ordinary bone marrow-derived MSCs, the most commonly used source for MSCs in clinical trials. The paper is available free online at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/scd.2013.0554.

    I know you are up to your arm pits in STAP issues but this is important,too

    Potency of eMSC vs. adult MSC would like to know where you stand on Lanza’s data

  75. Sorry– to clarify, it’s the AMD/SSD/MMD/really rare forms drug that both STEM and ACTC are working on.

  76. Hi,

    First, let me say that I’m so impressed by this website, and I’m so glad there’s a good source of information– and it’s available for scientists and non-scientists alike! 🙂

    My question is about Stemcell Tech (STEM’s) studies that are attempting the same treatment that ACTC has been working on for basically the same length of time. I’ve seen a lot of claims that it’s some kind of outright “race to the finish line” as far as who will develop the drug first, but it just seems to me that STEM’s work has too many unanswered questions, too many unresolved issues, and too many aspects that don’t really add up. I’ve been trying to point out these problems– because I don’t think it’s exactly rocket science– but I don’t think it’s getting through to some people. The fact that STEM was approved to move to Phase II from Phase I means absolutely nothing in terms of efficacy, only of safety. They have never released a paper in a peer-reviewed journal dealing with human subjects, only with rodents, and at the same point, ACTC did (the Lancet paper that Robert Lanza was involved in.) They also haven’t made any announcements about success with any patients, which ACTC did do (earlier than Phase Ii, actually.) I just think that it isn’t adding up. But I’m only an MSW! 🙂

    And I have motives for wishful thinking in both directions, I totally admit. I do have investments in ACTC, but I would rather lose every cent if it meant that someone else came up with a cure faster. So I just can’t be sure. I would LOVE to hear your opinion on this one. 🙂

  77. Greetings, I am recruiting academic contributors for a much in demand publication for SAGE Reference: The Encyclopedia of Stem Cell Research 2nd Edition by Dr. Eric Bouhassira.
    If interested in publication, we have several articles available, please contact me at the following address with a current copy of your CV.
    stemcell@golsonmedia.com

  78. Do you know who is going to patent Chen and Rolls discoveries in neuroscience. I think maybe not all can catch it. Science with great help from IPS. Is this science you do not pay so much attention, because it is not a stem cell treatment, but research done with just the help of the IPS? Make scare tissue regenerate fully fuctional neurons by virus with some genes? Do you consider this as a breaktrough rather than Multistem? I can not yet understand the power of Multistem by Athersys? Is it just a fraud? I think things are going to accelerate pretty fast this year and I think the big pharmas can loose huge amount of income by not pay attention. I think much of the old cell based therapies is going to be out of date within this year. What do you think?

  79. Pingback: Stem Cell Job: Postdoctoral Position at UC Davis School of Medicine | Knoepfler Lab Stem Cell Blog

  80. Hello!

    My name is Lynn. I tried to use the “contact” on your web site. It set met up with a gmail email to knoepfler@ucdavis.edu. but when I try to send it, I get an error. What am I doing wrong? I want to ask a question. Thank you.

  81. My interest in learning about normal and cancer stem cells dates back to my post residency days when I studied the biology of CD133+/CD34+/- cells isolated by MACS and FACS to study survival pathways (NFKB, PI3’K/AKT, and MAPK) through morphoproteomic analysis. Recently, I evaluated signaling mechanisms in CML progenitors using the novel mass cytometry (CyTOF) technology. Based on these data, I received the BD Biosciences 2013 Stem Cell Award. I think this conference will enhance my knowledge in the field which I feel strongly committed to delve further into using the latest technologies in single cell analysis.

  82. Pingback: Flash contest: win free ticket to see Yamanaka & friends in SFO | Knoepfler Lab Stem Cell Blog

  83. I have COPD. It is taking a real toll on me physically. Does stem cell therapy hold any hope for people with this desease? I appreciate your comments and your knowledge!

  84. In April I suffered a blow to the neck that has left me partially paralyzed. I am recovering and have seen a lot of function returning and lately a big increase in sensation. Are there stem cell treatments here or overseas that you would suggest might be worth considering to speed up my recovery?

  85. What’s your opinion on adipose stem cell reproduction as a therapy for OA of the knees vs. knee replacement? Has Celltex, RNL Bio been granted an FDA clinical trial in Sugarland ,TX? Celltex advertises their Houston/Sugarland Lab is nairy FDA approved? Does UC Davis SOM have a stem cellI research facilities in line with UC Berkeley SOM and Stanford SOM?

    1. It’s a year since my lAst post… what are you doing ref MCSC/ aware of regarding the efficacy of Pt-cultured MCSC in the treatment of knee OA? Understand the proceedure: Celltex takes the sample, it’s sent to Mexico for culture; Pt goes to Mexico to undergo proceedure w/ Pt-cultured MCSC. If you’re not doing research in this area, please refer me to who is. Thanks, Hank… I’m not the Hank who posted 03-25-14; but am interested in your take on the Lanza paper.

  86. i would like to know if this product is available in South Africa. If so, where can it be obtained? there are so many ladies that is in DIRE need of this product including myself. Kindly advise soonest.
    Many thanks
    Kind regards
    Freda

    1. paul what do you think of using cannabis for copd I googled it and it sounds good to me.google it and read all of it.I am going to try it if I can find some.The oil not the one that makes you high.

  87. Hi Dr Knoepfler,

    I have a case that I would like your input on.
    On Saturday, 2 march, 22 yr old male was med evac’d from Zambia to Johannesburg after collapsing on site. Diagnosed with cerebral malaria that was not picked up in numerous malaria tests in the weeks preceding the incident.
    Patient is currently in a coma and on life support. His heart is beating without adrenaline support. Neurologist has recommended a declaration of brain death.
    I want to know if there is any way a stem cell treatment can assist with the damage done to the brain / brain stem by the disease.
    I look forward to your response.

    Thank you.

  88. It’s my understanding that the doctor doing the face lift that resulted in bone growing,injected something else around her eyes which resulted in the reaction of growing bone.
    Of course the Luddites and media had a hayday poo pooing this revolution in medicine.Even you,a proponent,have repeated this ,what I consider mis-information,and it’s obvious the doctor himself screwed up by not even considering what might occur mixing these products with stem cells.
    The FDA and especially the NIH seem in no hurry to bring these amazing cells to the millions of suffering human that need them.If NASA had to deal with the FDA and the evangelical in charge at the NIH, we would still be anticipating a moon landing in the not too distant future.
    Many patients are in life or death situations and in my opinion should be able to insist on these amazing advancements in medicine.They should be able to decide if they want to accept the risks since they many will die anyway without them.
    It’s really the same question as will we use embryos heading to the trash heap to help suffering living humans or let the Luddites win the day.

  89. Paul,
    I would like your opinion on something. You have followed ACTC for quite some time now. Recently, Pfizer and the College of London announced that they are going to begin trials for their sheet/cell combination. This is the process that was created I believe by Coffey before he left for UCSB. This trial has been anticipated for some time, but the actual filing is for WET AMD rather than the dry form which most everyone else anticipated that they would go after.
    Do you have any ideas or clues as to why they would focus on the WET form of the disease when the majority by far of the cases are in dry amd?
    What am I missing?
    Your opinion is appreciated.

    1. Hi Rollin,
      Great question. I wish I had a great answer. Is there something about the sheet/cell combo that would be predicted to work better for WET AMD? That’s the only thing that comes to mind. Other readers have thoughts?

      1. Anna Hamilton Mallon

        I personally didn’t have stem cell but my husband had it twice, he had Lymphoma cane and didn’t complain once, he said he was tired he got 5 months remission the second time he got stem cell again he never complained sadly he passed away but he got an extra 5yrs of life before he himself gave up he was 62. In loving memory to you Joe.

      2. Sir –

        Has any investigation been done to ensure that the stem cell research community has kept its hands clean from the Planned Parenthood practice of selling body parts from the results of abortion? With the advent of ‘abortion’ after complete, live birth, this practice is surely only going to get worse, and I am very concerned of the backlash
        to the stem cell industry should any collusion be revealed.

        C. Edmond
        California

        1. avoidthestemcellscam.com

          Here are some interesting and possibly pertinent revelations:

          https://www.yelp.com/biz/liveyon-llc-yorba-linda-2

          Same addresses in Yorba Linda, CA as listed on former filing against DV:

          http://lc.org/PDFs/Attachments2PRsLAs/2016/101416DVcomplaint.pdf

          Share same employee pool, too?

          https://www.bayoaksphysicalmed.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Stem-cell-Gonzalez-3rd-party-testing-White-Paper.pdf

          Please do check out this marketing piece, especially the headline. Are they even real Ph.d’s or is it like Kristen Comella’s purported Ph.d?

          https://www.omicsonline.org/speaker/Rafael_Gonzalez_DaVinci_Biosciences_LLC_USA_Cell_Therapy2014

          Is this the same Ph.d?

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