Are small clusters of cells that make up 5-day-old human embryos equivalent to children? Biologically and in terms of just common sense, the answer is “no.” These tiny spheres have around 100 cells and no organs. Actual people have many trillions of cells, brains, and other organs. Alabama law on embryos may block IVF About […]
I was able to watch some of the 9th Circuit Court hearing today on the FDA appeal of its loss in the Cell Surgical Network lawsuit. This post is my brief impressions as a scientist. What went down? Do the three judges seem to be leaning one way or another? The ruling in this case
9th Circuit hearing on FDA appeal of Cell Surgical Network case: maybe encouraging? Read More »
A Justice Department press release details how a physician’s assistant (PA) in Texas was convinced of fraud related to amniotic fluid injections. This story tells us some important things about how Medicare handles things versus the FDA approach to such things. Amniotic fluid scam A jury found Ray Anthony Shoulders, a PA at a pain
Man could get 240 yrs for amniotic fluid for knees Medicare scam Read More »
Readers of The Niche have asked me many questions about stem cells for autoimmune disease but the puzzle of why women get these conditions more often than men hasn’t come up before here. For instance, why is MS so much more common in women than men? It’s remained somewhat of a mystery over the years.
Placental biologics firm MiMedx and exosome company Kimera Labs both recently received FDA warning letters. The letter to MiMedx was related to its placental biologics products and procedures. The new warning to Kimera Labs was about its exosome products and an amniotic product. Let’s compare these letters starting with the one to MiMedX. MiMedx warning letter
Weekly reads: MiMedX & Kimera Labs FDA warnings, NYT on Bryan Johnson, MUSE cell trial Read More »
A New Rochelle doctor has filed suit against the healthcare clinic firm Fountain Life alleging fraud. Now seems like a good time for an update on the firm. Peter Diamandis along with Bob Hariri, life coach Tony Robbins, and surgeon William Kapp founded Fountain Life, an early detection-focused healthcare company. Are they also a longevity firm? To
Fountain Life update: lawsuit by doc, high performance aging, Celularity trial plan Read More »
If you remember xenobots, mobile clusters of frog cells, now you might be interested to learn that some of the same team brings us human cell clusters called anthrobots. Both frog and human cellular clusters are considered types of biobots or robots made of cells. To me, anthrobots seem akin to human organoids or assembloids.
Dishing on biobots like xenobots & anthrobots vs. organoids Read More »
I’m trying to remember the first time I ever heard about clones. It had to be as a kid. Maybe in a monster movie or TV show? Possibly a clone was referred to by the more general term “double”, which is not necessarily a clone. Whatever it was, I’m sure as a kid that I
Weekly reads: game of clones, super-SOX, Moonwalk Bio, Great Wall’s living skin Read More »
Every year I give out The Screamers Science Hype Award. The point of The Screamers is to raise awareness about science hype and catalyze new ways to combat it. In that spirit, I award what I see as the most extreme examples of science hype. Sometimes in addition to the one main winner, I give “honorable”
2023 The Screamers Science Hype Award goes to anti-aging media coverage Read More »
The big news broke Friday that the FDA approved two new gene therapies for sickle cell disease. While the approvals were expected and the actual use of these treatments will be complex on several levels, this is a historic development. 2 FDA-approved gene therapies for sickle cell Friday’s news follows on recent UK approval for