Recently, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) conducted a review of the California Stem Cell Agency, CIRM. IOM has now released a quite lengthy report that makes a number of recommendations on various issues. You can also read a short summary here. Unfortunately, I think that many of the IOM recommendations would be harmful to CIRM […]
IOM misses the boat on CIRM board Read More »
Here on The Niche I’m giving out a Stem Cell Person of the Year Award for 2012 along with all my other annual awards (e.g. best stem cell journal, paper, blog, comic, activist, etc). 2020 update: you can see future winners of the award here. The Person of the Year winner will get recognition for
Stem Cell Person of the Year Finalists: time to vote Read More »
Today I was part of a panel discussion on social media for the stem cell cause at the World Stem Cell Summit. My fellow World Stem Cell Summit panel speakers John Hlinko, Amy Adams, and Don Reed all did a great job. Something that one of speakers said in the session that ended right before
World Stem Cell Summit Day 2: scientists just stick to facts? Read More »
It’s been a long saga for the FDA and the unproven stem cell clinic group called Cell Surgical Network, headquartered in Beverly Hills. A court case involving the two has been unfolding for many years. It has big implications for agency authority and the hundreds of stem cell clinics across the U.S. The case took
Back in late August, Liveyon leader John Kosolcharoen pleaded to federal charges on stem cells. What was Liveyon? Liveyon was a splashy umbilical cord stem cell supplier company. I don’t know if the company is still active now. One of its core products ended up sending dozens of people to the hospital due to contamination
Liveyon made $21.6 million says DOJ; leader gets 3 years prison for stem cell activities Read More »
How is research looking on stem cells for diabetes? I’m feeling more encouraged about the clinical research in that area. Before we jump into that let’s talk about two other things. The big news of the week was the felony plea deal by Liveyon’s John Kosolcharoen to charges related to marketing an unapproved cell therapy
Some recent claims had me wondering whether Liz Parrish is the world’s most genetically modified person. She and her firm BioViva are making that claim. It’s an important question but maybe not for the reason many of us first might think. This is not really about one person. Instead, this is a weighty question because
Would you guess that Elon Musk might be into using biotechnology in a high-profile way to try to live far longer than usual, say to age 150? That would have been my assumption. There are countless things about Elon Musk that I really don’t like. I also don’t see many issues on which we are
Something Elon Musk & I agree on: pushing back on anti-aging bluster Read More »
Placental biologics firm MiMedx and exosome company Kimera Labs both recently received FDA warning letters. The letter to MiMedx was related to its placental biologics products and procedures. The new warning to Kimera Labs was about its exosome products and an amniotic product. Let’s compare these letters starting with the one to MiMedX. MiMedx warning letter
Weekly reads: MiMedX & Kimera Labs FDA warnings, NYT on Bryan Johnson, MUSE cell trial Read More »
A New Rochelle doctor has filed suit against the healthcare clinic firm Fountain Life alleging fraud. Now seems like a good time for an update on the firm. Peter Diamandis along with Bob Hariri, life coach Tony Robbins, and surgeon William Kapp founded Fountain Life, an early detection-focused healthcare company. Are they also a longevity firm? To
Fountain Life update: lawsuit by doc, high performance aging, Celularity trial plan Read More »