The number of people around the world being injected with stem cells every day has never been higher and the heterogeneous group of medical providers doing these procedures is also at or near its highest level ever. The cells used are also highly variable as are the procedures themselves, but most of these cells fall under the […]
Review of Centeno MSC safety paper: without controls, conclusions muted Read More »
Should we be injecting bone marrow cells into someone’s eyes? it seems like a terrible idea to me based on what we currently know. Whenever I see a stem cell headline like this one from a recent Baltimore Sun piece, it raises many questions: Stem cells apparently reverse woman’s blindness. First of all, is the reporter,
Study injects marrow cells into eye, charges $20K Read More »
Shinya Yamanaka is one of my favorite fellow scientists. His research is creative and rigorous along with having huge clinical implications. At the same time, Dr. Yamanaka sees the big picture and he’s very open about talking about real life as a scientist. I really appreciate both levels. In the past I interviewed him for
Takeaways from new Yamanaka (山中伸弥) stem cell interview Read More »
It’s been a great couple days so far here at the World Stem Cell Summit in Atlanta. You can follow it on Twitter using the #WSCS15 hash tag. I first attended it 5 years ago in Pasadena. One of the special aspects of WSCS is it brings together diverse stakeholders in a way that just
World Stem Cell Summit 2015: IPS cells, #CRISPR, CAR-T Read More »
In a strange, but fascinating tale recounted by Antonio Regalado in an article over at MIT Tech Review, we hear the first claim of a do-it-yourself (DIY) gene therapy involving a firm called BioViva and its leader Liz Parrish. Liz Parrish and BioViva The owner of a small biotech called BioViva, Liz Parrish, reportedly traveled
Claim of Liz Parrish DIY gene therapy linked to unlicensed stem cell clinic Read More »
ISSCR Chat By Michael Cea Jeanne Loring of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California kindly sat down with me at the ISSCR annual meeting for a broad discussion of her history, views on the field and developments in the science. I found Jeanne a refreshing character, as I did a number of others I was
Michael Cea ISSCR chat with Jeanne Loring on stem cell field Read More »
Organoids are pretty big in stem cells right now with the last couple of years having attracted a lot of media attention on mini lungs, mini brains, mini kidneys, mini guts and more, giving the impression that scientists know how to specify and organise cells into mini functional organs in the lab. Organoids have become
Carla Kim & Hans Clevers talks on organoids at #ISSCR2015 Read More »
What is the “proper” amount of freedom of choice for patients in medicine? What if the treatments in question are experimental and come with their own baggage of associated risks, personal costs, and potential costs to society? More broadly, do patients have a fundamental right to medical choice? These questions seem particularly appropriate today on
Do Patients Have a Fundamental Right to Choice? Read More »
I invited the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Bioheart, Kristin Comella, to do an interview after hearing some buzz that this could be a critical time for the company and that it might have been recently visited by the FDA. Note that Comella not just Bioheart CSO, but also the primary instructor for physician training in stem
Interview with Bioheart CSO, Kristin Comella including on FDA Read More »
Hockey legend Gordie Howe had a devastating stroke last fall and supposedly a stem cell treatment in Mexico from for-profit stem cell businesses, Stemedica and Novastem, caused a remarkable recovery in Howe. It has been one of the most hyped stem cell stories in history. What really happened? Today a new article on a fresh investigation into this story
Gordie Howe family reportedly invested in Stemedica Read More »