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Unnatural Selection review: captivating mind-bender but needed more science

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Unnatural-Selection-with-patient-Jackson-Kennedy

Today’s post is a review of Unnatural Selection, the new Netflix science docuseries focused on CRISPR and other disruptive genetic and reproductive technologies. The show is an interesting mix of personalities and stories from patients, scientists, biohackers, and more. One patient thread is the story of a wonderful little boy named Jackson Kennedy. He wants […]

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If you’ve had a stem cell therapy, how was your experience?

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stem-cell-treatments

Over the years I’ve asked patients to talk about their experiences getting a stem cell therapy. One particular post in 2016 has drawn almost 400 comments, many from patients. The insights provided by these patients and the questions asked in the comment stream have provided a unique window into what’s going on out there. There

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My B grade to Google on early test of its stem cell clinic ad ban

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Google ads policy, stem cell therapies

As of October 1, Google was supposed to have banned ads for unproven stem cell clinics and products. This was according to their own new policy. How’s that going? How’s this new Google approach to unproven stem cell marketing working out in the real wild world of the web? To test it, I did over

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Discover Magazine runs full-page ‘stem cell’ snake oil ad

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Discover-Magazine-stem-cell-snake-oil2

Marketing of unproven stem cells has exploded in the past 3 years including some ads for things that sure seem like snake oil to me. Overall, it’s likely that hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more than a million are being spent on advertising of unproven stem cells. While in the past I’ve generally

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Weekend reads: stem cells, CRISPR, glioma, stroke, RTT & more

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Venkatesh-et-al.-Nature-2019-Fig-2e

Every so often I realize I’ve accumulated a bunch of tabs on my browsers of things I need to dive into as time permits, which sometimes translates into a collection of recommended reads here on The Niche. Here are some recommended recent reads in the stem cell/regenerative medicine field and childhood cancer space. It includes

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ViaCyte Q&A: CRISPR Tx quick progress, ongoing diabetes trial, & more

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ViaCyte-CyT49-PSC

ViaCyte is one of the most exciting stem cell and regenerative medicine biotech companies so I like to try to check in with them regularly. Today’s post is my new interview with ViaCyte leader Paul Laikind on recent developments. We had a great chat about the science and how things are looking upbeat for the

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Report from Medical Board of California meeting on stem cell clinics

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Dr.-Charity-Dean-California-Med-Board-stem-cell-clinics

This afternoon I attended and gave public comment at the Medical Board of California stem cell task force meeting on unproven stem cell clinics. There were about 40 people attending. In part this meeting is a consequence of the national governing organization of state medical boards, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) having worked

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StemGenex clinic bankruptcy reveals surprises including huge revenue

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Stemgenex

How much money and how many patients do stem cell clinics like San Diego’s StemGenex make each year? A new court document has some insights from an unexpected angle. I’ve been following StemGenex for years here on The Niche. It’s been a rollercoaster ride. Things hit a new low today, perhaps marking the operational end

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