Search Results for: myc

Tumorigenicity and Pluripotency teased apart? Not yet for Myc

February 1, 2021 / By
Fig.-5-Nakagawa-et-al.-Myc-in-cancer-and-IPScs

A paper just came out in PNAS entitled “Promotion of direct reprogramming by transformation-deficient Myc“. The main thrust of this paper is that the tumorigenic and pluripotency-related functions of Myc could be separated. It focused primarily on the lesser studied LMyc. The topic of the intertwined good (pluripotency) and bad (tumorigenicity) functions of Myc, addressed …

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Weekly reads: heterochromatin, H3.3, Mesoblast bump

March 30, 2024 / By / 1 Comment
N-myc, heterochromatin

My lab is focused in part on chromatin states in stem cells and cancer including heterochromatin. In fact, my lab’s website is chromatin.com. Heterochromatin is dense, often inactive chromatin. By H&E staining and electron microscopy, heterochromatin looks dark compared to the rest of the nucleus, largely composed of euchromatin. Toward the end of my postdoc …

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US clinics widely selling unproven RNA therapy, supportive oligonucleotide therapy or SOT, from Greek firm RGCC

April 7, 2024 / By / 7 Comments
SOT, supportive oligonucleotide therapy

A few dozen clinics in the US sell an unproven RNA therapy called supportive oligonucleotide therapy or SOT. The product comes from a Greek firm RGCC or Research Genetic Cancer Center, which also pre-tests patients’ gene expression to design the RNA product. Clinics marketing SOT in the US say it is intended to act by …

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2023 stem cell predictions grades reflect wild year for regenerative medicine

December 27, 2023 / By / 1 Comment
stem cell predictions

Every year I make stem cell and regenerative medicine predictions. Looking at my predictions for 2023, they reflect a wild year but in many ways a good one overall. Below I have graded my 2023 predictions. Overall, my crystal ball gave solid results. Some of the predictions have been condensed to keep things concise, but you …

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Weekly reads: FDA OKs 2 gene therapies for sickle cell, new Paolo Macchiarini series, Fujifilm

December 9, 2023 / By / 1 Comment
Marie Tornyenu, Casgevy gene therapies for sickle cell

The big news broke Friday that the FDA approved two new gene therapies for sickle cell disease. While the approvals were expected and the actual use of these treatments will be complex on several levels, this is a historic development. 2 FDA-approved gene therapies for sickle cell Friday’s news follows on recent UK approval for …

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Can trying to cheat death paradoxically kill you sooner?

December 25, 2023 / By / 10 Comments
anti-aging, Dorian Gray

Can you paradoxically kill yourself early by trying to cheat Death? For example, die through risky anti-aging approaches? The question came to mind because such longevity efforts have become more extreme. They also get more hype in the media. I’ve been following the anti-aging space mainly because many interventions involve risky stem cell injections. Those …

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Weekly reads: late Macchiarini retractions, stem cells & Lululemon

October 28, 2023 / By / 8 Comments
Paolo-Macchiarini

Paolo Macchiarini is one of a small group of people in the stem cell universe whose misconduct has blown up in the press. Piero Anversa, Haruko Obokata, Hwang Woo-Suk, and some operators in the unproven stem cell clinic sphere come to mind. Macchiarini published quite a few seriously problematic papers, some of which just hung …

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Weekly reads: CRISPR sickle cell, Parkinson’s, pig-human chimera concerns

September 9, 2023 / By / Leave a Comment
CRISPR gene editing

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 …

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Weekly reads: embryonic stem cells, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s

August 12, 2023 / By / 6 Comments
Knoepfler lab stem cells

Early during my postdoc I was primarily interested in the role of Myc genes both in cancer and in stem cells, work that later included embryonic stem cells. These cells are often called ES cells. At first I first started studying N-Myc in neural stem cells using a conditional knockout approach. However, soon after I was …

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Weekly reads: BioCardia, HeLa suit, illegal bio lab in CA

August 5, 2023 / By / Leave a Comment
mesenchymal cells

A days ago the news came about Mesoblast not getting FDA approval for its MSC product for GvHD. The MSC area has had a rough few years with various clinical trials including for COVID. The “stem cells for heart disease” arena has also had a tough time. Here’s more news along these lines: BioCardia pauses enrollment in PhIII trial …

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