Sometimes on The Niche or while teaching students as a professor here at UC Davis School of Medicine, I’ve been asked: What is a teratoma? Not all tumors are created equal and some like teratomas are particularly unusual. Exactly what is a teratoma tumor? Teratomas are germ cell tumors. What this means is that the […]
What is a teratoma tumor? Research & treatment Read More »
The paper of the week reports using base-editing, a kind of gene-editing, to reverse mutations associated with rapid aging syndromes, generally called progeria, but there are a lot of other interesting pubs to recommend for reading this week. I go over it all in this post. Gene-editing to fight premature aging syndromes In vivo base
Weekly reads & paper of the week: gene-editing vs. aging Read More »
A new paper today in Stem Cells Translational Medicine on a small COVID-19 Phase 1/2a trial using an umbilical cord stem cell product reports a surprising degree of possible efficacy. What’s the scoop here and could there be some hype in the media about this new study such as one of the authors describing the
Small umbilical cord stem cell COVID-19 trial: sign of efficacy? Read More »
What to read when there are almost an endless number of stem cell and regenerative medicine pubs? Here are some suggestions including what I would say is a very unusual Nature paper on making egg cells from stem cells. If this could be done safely with human cells all the way to functional eggs, would
Recommended regenerative medicine reads: making eggs, retraction, freezing, more Read More »
Our mission here on The Niche is primarily educational. We aim to make a transformative difference in educating readers across the globe about stem cells, regenerative medicine, and innovative biomedical science more generally including CRISPR gene editing. A major part of that mission involves fact-checking various medical claims about stem cells and other biologics like
Our Educational Mission on The Niche Stem Cell Site Read More »
Some key questions about stem cells often go unanswered like ‘where do stem cells come from?’ The goal of this post is for me as a stem cell biologist to answer your questions on stem cells. What’s in this article? The Niche | Adult stem cells | Where do stem cells come from? | What
Where do stem cells come from? Expert answers Read More »
Today’s The Niche recommended weekly reads post includes both primary papers and also a few media pieces. I’m especially interested in the first piece on making more complex embryo-like structures from ES cells. This is a long way from just making embryoid bodies or EBs. At the end of the post I discuss an article
Weekly The Niche reads: lab-grown embryos & thymus, more Read More »
This week we have some interesting new reading including both on the stem cell basic and translational fronts as well as on COVID-19 vaccines. COVID-19 vaccine considerations From Derek Lowe at In The Pipeline on COVID-19 vaccine expectations at Science Translational Medicine, Get Ready for False Side Effects. You can read my views on possible
Recommended stem cell reads: retractions, aging, COVID, CRISPR soldiers Read More »
Even in COVID times the FDA continues its stepped-up efforts against stem cell clinics and patients are suing clinics more too, which I cover in today’s post along with recommended stem cell research pubs. One of the papers at the top of my to-read list is on 3D chromatin in stem cells. FDA Warning Letter
Weekly pubs & 2 stem cell clinics get bad news Read More »
Some scientists, even on Halloween, might be relatively immune to the fear of things that nonetheless freak out many everyday normal people. Brains, powerful lasers, antibiotic resistant genetically-modified bacteria, potent viruses, radioactivity. The list goes on and on. Mutant cells and animals. DNA containing cancer-causing genes. So as Halloween approaches, what does scare the heck out
Halloween costumes that really scare scientists Read More »