What is stem cell media? When us scientists hear the phrase “stem cell media” we usually think about the liquid food that we feed our stem cells in the lab, which resembles a kind of nutrient-rich Kool-aid, but another kind of stem cell media consists of the news coverage of stem cells. This other kind …
Grading 3 stem cell media reports on clinical science: vision, MS, & paralysis Read More »
By Samantha Yammine When our TV stops working, it’s usually because one of the wires has come unplugged. We begrudgingly huff and puff over to the back of the TV, track down the loose culprit, plug it back in, and boom: back to Netflix. If you multiply all those wires in the back of your …
Ring the bell for a stem cell milestone, specifically for iPS cell work. There’s been a whole lot of commotion about the NEJM article yesterday documenting the experiences of three women with macular degeneration who were blinded by non-FDA approved stem cell eye injections of fat stem cells at a business in Florida, but in the …
Takahashi team IPS cell vision paper marks major stem cell milestone Read More »
I’m hearing more questions from the community about alleged harm from stem cell clinics selling stem cells for a number of vision-related conditions and some concerns include the so-called SCOTS study. I first blogged about SCOTS early this year and back then I myself had questions too. Some commenters then raised concerns or questions about SCOTS in …
SCOTS Study on Stem Cells for Vision: Still Questions as Patient Alleges Harm Read More »
We’ve been hearing a lot this week about an important new clinical study for vision loss (macular degeneration) in the UK. This team is using retinal pigmented epithelial cells (RPEs) made from embryonic stem cells (ESC). They are now testing safety. The new work in the UK is Moorfields Eye Hospital is a great addition …
New UK trial & Ocata: stem cell hope on vision impairment Read More »
Recently I was at the World Alliance Forum in San Francisco (WAFSF), a great meeting on stem cells and regenerative medicine. WAFSF had some excellent talks and I saw one session on the use of stem cells to treat vision impairment that was particularly striking. World Alliance Forum in San Francisco (WAFSF) This session’s all-star lineup included Drs. David …
WAFSF stem cell vision talks: Hinton, Tsukamoto, Klassen, Takahashi Read More »
A new paper on stem cells for paralysis from a Mayo Clinic team has sparked a bit of legitimate hope but also some hype in the media. The publication was in Nature Communications. It is entitled “Intrathecal delivery of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells in traumatic spinal cord injury: Phase I trial.” The approach was direct injection …
Perspectives on new stem cells for paralysis paper & media coverage Read More »
A reader of The Niche recently asked me, “What about stem cells for deafness?” It’s a great question and, as they pointed out, stem cells for vision loss gets much more attention. I’ve covered the translational progress of stem cells to treat many diseases but there has been less progress for deafness in the regenerative …
A patient who got scientifically unproven and non-FDA-approved stem cells from Dr. Alvaro Skupin, filed suited against him, his wife who is often known as Doctora Nancy or Dra Nancy Alvarez, and associated businesses. These firms include the stem cell clinic known as Mother Stem Cell Institute in Florida, where the injections apparently took place. …
Suit against Dr. Alvaro Skupin & Dra Nancy Alvarez over blinding at clinic is settled Read More »
Many avenues are being pursued to get stem cell therapy to the clinic for eye conditions. These different approaches employ a variety of stem cell types. In some cases, such as with iPS cells, the stem cells themselves are not transplanted. Instead, the iPS cells are used to make differentiated eye cells, such as RPE …
Weekly reads: stem cell therapy for eyes research, DMD, cheating death, cancer sensors Read More »