CRISPR gene editing has made rapid progress heading from bench to bedside. Perhaps the fastest has been its progress toward clinical use to combat sickle cell disease. We’ll start with a new paper on one major effort here. CRISPR gene editing. This process often involves cutting DNA, which then can be used as an opening to …
Weekly reads: CRISPR sickle cell, Parkinson’s, pig-human chimera concerns Read More »
I’ve been more interested in histones and their modifications versus DNA methylation when it comes to epigenetics and chromatin. In part this has just been because I have studied histones so much more. For example, we have been knocking out the two histone variant H3.3 genes, H3f3a and H3f3b, now for a decade. My lab also …
Weekly reads: DNA methylation, H3 K27M in glioma, memory wipe, teeth Read More »
I tend to perhaps over-focus on human CRISPR or gene editing, but other applications including in agriculture are definitely going to be huge. CRISPR in agriculture One that I’ve been following for a long time is the use of CRISPR to prevent cows from growing horns. Why is that a big deal? Just in the …
Weekly reads: CRISPR chicks, HSCs, sequencing Mendel Read More »
As I’ve mentioned recently, it’s my busy time for medical school teaching and not long ago we did a GI lab that included one of my favorite structures in the course: taste buds. Taste buds The medical students seem fascinated with taste buds too. I can tell as their professor when something is particularly interesting …
Weekly reads: taste buds, organoids, good news on CRISPR safety Read More »
Some people consider the brain to be equivalent to a living computer and in that sense it’s too bad that computers don’t have the equal of neural stem cells to help them fix themselves. Is the internet one big neural network-like web? There was a quake in the stem cell internet as CIRM’s main website …
Weekly reads: neural stem cells, CRISPR brain, Vertex, cytoplasm surprise Read More »
Great ideas and talented scientists are not enough as biomedical research needs funding and here in the U.S. that means having R01 grant success. The trends since 1995 are slowly heading the wrong way. The average age of getting your first R01 grant keeps getting older. There is also still a bit of a possible …
Weekly reads: R01 grant trends, DPPA4, adult human neurogenesis debate Read More »
What are your favorite cells? The stem variety? T-cells? I have a hard time choosing just one favorite. The first news item I feature talks new imaging methods to see deep inside any cells. Have a favorite organelle? The secret lives of cells — as never seen before, Nature. This news item covers newer imaging techniques …
Recommended reads: secrets of cells, T-cells, CRISPR Read More »
Clade Therapeutics has been pursuing the idea of using gene-editing to make universally compatible cells. The potential here is big. What if you could make cloaked stem cells that could be used to produce cellular therapies that could be given to most patients without fear of immune rejection? Clade Therapeutics Boston Business Journal covers the …
Clade Therapeutics pursues universal cells for cancer therapy Read More »
I’ve been busy recently focusing more on grant and paper writing than reading papers on stem cells, but my piece on trying to de-extinct mammoths via cloning-like methods drew strong opinions on both sides. Recent news and resources on stem cells We’re still awaiting a verdict in the big California federal court case where the FDA is …
Weekly reads: news, legos for stem cells, FDA, cancer, more Read More »
This edition of The Niche weekly reads has a bit more good news than usual including on stem cell transplants. It’s nice to see positive developments like some recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplants being able to stay at home afterwards. Also, a reminder. You have until July 31 to enter our stem cell video …