Search Results for: celebrity

Paolo Macchiarini guilty in criminal stem cell case but does a Houdini again

Paolo-Macchiarini

Dr. Paolo Macchiarini exemplifies how things can change quickly in the stem cell world and go from sky highs to deep lows. Stem cell rollercoasters Over the years, a few academic stem cell researchers as well as some operators in the unproven clinic sphere have had dizzying ups and downs. There’s John Kosolcharoen. His company …

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Fact-checking stem cell therapy for autism: still a risky idea

Duke-Curemark-autism-study-pamphlet

The other day I gave a talk in part about stem cell hype and mentioned as an example how the idea of already doing stem cell therapy for autism seems so misguided to me now.  On the whole, in my view there are major downsides and risks for autistic kids whose parents are already having …

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Duke & Cryo-Cell plan big clinic for unproven infusions of kids

cryo cell duke stem cells autism cp

Professor Joanne Kurtzberg’s clinical work at the Duke Autism Center on umbilical cord blood for autism and cerebral palsy (CP) involves a partnership with a publicly-traded cord blood banking firm called Cryo-Cell. Kurtzberg is also the Medical Director at the firm. In addition they have intellectual property in this area. The Duke team’s efforts, including …

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Fact-Checking Panama stem cell institute: cost, safety, efficacy, docs

Somehow time has flown by so that I’ve been around for ages in the stem cell universe and some unproven stem cell clinic type firms, like the well-known Panama stem cell clinic that sells autism “treatments”, are also long-timers. It’s been an odd parallel existence for more than a decade. Today’s post is focused on …

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More Duke Autism Center backstory: stem cell ‘magic’ & money

Duke-Curemark-autism-study-pamphlet

Last week I wrote a long post detailing the troubling multimillion-dollar reverberations between the Duke Autism Center and a for-profit stem cell clinic. The clinic in Panama is The Stem Cell Institute. The potential entanglements raise a bunch of questions and concerns. They center on questionable, unproven autism “treatments”. In Duke’s case, their own clinical …

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Duke Autism Center has Panama clinic to thank for $10s millions?

Drs.-Neil-Riordan-and-Joanne-Kurtzberg-MSCs-for-autism

What do a Panama stem cell clinic and the Duke Autism Center have in common? More than I might have imagined. It’s a remarkable story that needs telling. Duke Autism Center There is a puzzle when it comes to the controversial idea of using cord blood for autism. Why? Because two of the strongest proponents …

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Whatever happened to the STAP cell scientists including Haruko Obokata?

Obokata-game

Once upon a time this blog and major outlets around the world were regularly writing about a Japanese stem cell researcher named Haruko Obokata (小保方 晴子). Whatever happened to Obokata and the other folks directly involved in STAP cell research? First, a bit of background because maybe still a few people never heard of STAP cells …

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Probing F1 legend Michael Schumacher stem cell juice story

Michael-Schumacher-stem-cells

What’s the deal with Michael Schumacher and his Hail Mary stem cell procedure. Usually when we hear about celebrities getting unproven stem cells, it’s the celebrity themselves or their PR machine hyping it in exchange for something like free treatments or even money from those offering the stem cells for sale, but in the past …

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Celeb stem cell clinic shots series: John Cleese ‘spam’ edition

Excalibur-spamalot

When you read “spam, spam, spam” do you think of Monty Python? I do. Some folks may immediately think of email spam. There might even be a connection between the ubiquitous email spam and the old Monty Python spam. See the video below. What’s spam got to do with stem cells? Is there stem cell …

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Helpful tomato tips for growing great ones

unusual-tomatoes

Looking for some tomato tips? I do sometimes escape the lab into the outside world and once out of there I can often be found in my vegetable garden  looking after my tomatoes. I’ve written many times here on The Niche about gardening including tomatoes and have an occasional series “Scientist in the Garden.” After …

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