It seems like the field of cell biology has mixed feelings about fibroblasts so I’m going to start off there with the recommended reads. But first, check out our stem cell YouTube channel as we are steadily heading toward 500 subscribers and 30,000 views. Please subscribe. I’ve pasted one of our top videos below, which […]
Weekly reads: fibroblasts, cancer stem cells, Parkinson’s Read More »
We often don’t think of them that way but reproductive cells like sperm and egg are also relatives of stem cells, and it turns out that there are stem cells that make the reproductive cells too like sperm stem cells. Sperm and germ cell stem cells DNMT3A-dependent DNA methylation is required for spermatogonial stem cells
Recommend reads: CRISPR baby guy free, DNMT3, sperm, Editas, hearing loss, reprogramming Read More »
Sometimes a post here on The Niche (named after the stem cell niche) sparks a debate between expert stem cell researchers and often that gives much more depth to a topic. Such was the case with my post this week on where things stand with stem cell therapy for heart disease. It led to a
Weekly reads: Melton leaves Harvard, Fuji, BBC blunder, stem cell niche, more Read More »
It’s been quite a ride doing this blog on stem cells and other technologies for more than a dozen years. So far it seems like I’ll keep it going. A large part of the reason is because of people needing good information about our field. Those people include scientists and physicians but also many in
Weekly reads: Google, stem cells & MS, VSELs, ‘hairy’ organoids, MYC Read More »
It’s very challenging to be an academic scientist even under normal circumstances so when a government starts going after researchers for things like supposed irregularities in funding disclosures, it can cause serious problems if not carefully overseen. We’ll start this week’s recommended reads with the feds monitoring such disclosures and even making referrals to the
Weekly reads: Yale scientist suspended, WA AG sues clinic, new pubs Read More »
The FDA has been busy with the COVID pandemic but it has many other things on its plate as well including cell therapies. Today I’m sharing some recent agency news and brief perspectives on it. FDA focus on clinic-related umbilical cord cell drug makers The agency warned an Idaho company that produces and sells umbilical
FDA news: warning letter pattern, cancer moonshot, CAR-T & gene-editing guidance Read More »
The big news of the week was a $3.6 million settlement by a stem cell clinic, StemGenex, and one of its doctors in a class-action suit. I covered this StemGenex settlement and so did Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times and Paul Schloesser at Endpoints. I’d say this was good news for the stem cell field
Stem cell weekly reads: Jamie Thomson, Lamin B1, CRISPR Read More »
About 1 million people are living with multiple sclerosis in the U.S. alone with millions of other cases around the world so a huge effort has gone into trying to find new approaches to the disease including stem cells for MS. We’ll start our weekly recommended reads by talking about a new paper on MS
Stem cells for MS & other weekly reads: CRISPR, COVID & a bat cave, Huntington’s Read More »
The idea of stem cells outright curing diseases is exciting and has powerful appeal, but media need to be careful about using the word cure in headlines and articles as we saw this week related to a possible HIV Cure. HIV cure via stem cells and chemo? The big news of the week was that
Weekly reads: possible rare HIV cure, stem cell chicken, FDA commish Read More »
What exactly is a mesenchymal cell and what does the acronym MSC stand for these days? I took a stab recently at discussing mesenchymal cells and the MSC acronym so check that out. There is a great need for standards on MSCs and the products out there being marketed as MSCs are probably in reality
Weekly reads: MSC, p53, EuroGCT, fake fish, K27M CAR-T Read More »