A piece on human tails and how we lost them caught my eye so I’ll start my weekly reads with that. This week I had the fewest Zoom meetings in ages, which allowed me to get more work done in my own lab and more reading. How about that? I even had some in-person meetings […]
Recommended reads: a tale of human tails, heart reprogramming, pericytes, microglia Read More »
I’ve been following the research related to human cloning now for more than a decade. Is human cloning more possible at this point? How do we even define such cloning? Did you know there are two types? The goal of this post is to educate you and in the process answer such questions. What’s in
Human cloning is more likely now but would you take the big risks? Read More »
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 »
I’m taking a short break today from working on a big grant to put out this weekly reads post including on Sox transcription factors, cord blood paper controversy, and other interesting papers such as one on CTCF and chromatin domains after mitosis that really struck me. I can actually see blue sky today here in
Weekly reads: CTCF, Sox transcription factors, Clinic fires back, more Read More »
I recently found concerning SEC filings from the biotech Cryo-Cell about a deal it has with a Duke team for infusions of children with unproven umbilical cord cells. This turns out to be a $58 million deal. It relates in a major way to a Duke compassionate use or expanded access program (EAP) that already had raised
FDA should freeze Duke EAP & probe $58 million Cryo-Cell deal linked to it Read More »
It’s been a little quiet here on The Niche for the past week as I was off in Yellowstone National Park, but I’m back with this week’s recommended weekly reads including a section on organoids. First, I want to share a nature pic from the trip. A highlight was encountering a badger in Lamar Valley
Weekly reads: badgers, organoids, The Onion, & more Read More »
One of my favorite types of papers are those on stem cells and chromatin, and a new one in Current Biology caught my eye this week. My own lab website has the URL chromatin.com so that says something. You can also read more about our research here. Recommended reads: chromatin and stem cells, more Asymmetric
Weekly recommended reads including asymmetric division & chromatin Read More »
For more than a year in my first job as a scientist I isolated cells from umbilical cord veins and then tossed the tissue away, never realizing there was more there that could be useful in the form of something called Wharton’s jelly. What’s in this article Umbilical cord histology & Wharton’s jelly | What
What is Wharton’s jelly & its possible clinical uses? Read More »
What can a gecko possibly teach us about skin cancer? Read on. It’s fun when a week’s worth of science reading covers so much territory including COVID-19, geckos that get cancer, a research misconduct sleuth, an FDA letter, and more. Baltimore weighs in on COVID lab origin idea Caltech has a very interesting interview with
Recommended reads: Bik, FDA letter, gecko cancer model, David Baltimore on COVID origin Read More »
ViaCyte released encouraging data just now on a patient with implanted stem cell-derived pancreas-like device whose diabetes improved. You can read more about this in the Endpoints piece that I linked to in the previous sentence. Stem cells for diabetes; the ViaCyte update The idea of stem cells for diabetes has been more on my
Quick reaction to milestone ViaCyte data on a diabetes patient Read More »