Search Results for: cancer stem cells

Weekly reads: abundant Abcam prices, speedy aging & cancer, stemmy CAR-T, more on STAP

April 13, 2024 / By / 3 Comments
Abcam prices

When a vendor of important reagents like antibody supplier Abcam charges big money, those high Abcam prices could negatively impact research in the long run. Some of the prices are so high that buying just a few antibodies could take up a small but meaningful slice of an entire R01 grant. Sky-high Abcam prices I’ve …

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Weekly reads: immune rejuvenation, Cryo-Cell spin-off, stem cell patches, direct reprogramming

April 6, 2024 / By / 1 Comment
Irv Weissman, immune rejuvenation

What is immune rejuvenation? How would that work and what would be the benefits? As we age, our immune systems can change in unhelpful and unhealthy ways. One such change is a drift in the balance of production of different kinds of immune cells. Such a shift can lead to too many of some immune …

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Weekly reads: Alzheimer’s & lipid droplets, stem cells for COPD, fecal tx warning, med school teaching

March 23, 2024 / By / Leave a Comment
Alzheimer's, lipid droplets Alzheimer's

So many things go wrong during the lead up to clinically-evident Alzheimer’s disease. This complex disease pathway has, in turn, led to a vast array of approaches to try to treat or prevent Alzheimer’s. Most of these efforts one way or another have something to do with the amyloid plaques and tangles that accumulate in the …

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Key Mayo Clinic stem cell webpage is overexuberant & outdated

March 30, 2024 / By / 2 Comments
The Mayo Clinic.

The Mayo Clinic does some great research on stem cells and regenerative medicine. However, at times I’ve felt that a few Mayo researchers are overexuberant. This mainly relates to certain not-yet-proven stem cell and related offerings. Fitting with that perception, the Mayo website also has some inaccurate stem cell content that leans toward overstating things. …

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Weekly reads: elephant stem cells, RIP Connie Eaves, AI cell biology

March 16, 2024 / By / 2 Comments
elephant stem cells

Last week one of the most popular stories was about a preprint from a mammoth de-extinction research group led by George Church having made elephant stem cells. I finally got a chance to look carefully at their preprint. Elephant stem cells preprint and mammoth de-extinction The elephant stem cells preprint has solid data. It looks like …

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Weekly reads: anti-aging tricks & treats, stealthy stem cells, Mammoth de-extinction milestone

March 9, 2024 / By / 3 Comments
Pura Munoz-Canoves

Anti-aging might already be the big regenerative medicine story of 2024 and it’s only early March. Anti-aging hype going to the dogs? One of my 20 stem cell and regenerative medicine predictions for 2024 was that longevity would continue to make big news including in some not-so-great ways. In just over two months there has …

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Weekly reads: AL embryos ruling, blasting cancer, marrow organoids, beef inside rice plants

February 24, 2024 / By / 23 Comments
Multipotent & totipotent vs pluripotent stem cells, very early human embryos totipotent stem cells

Are small clusters of cells that make up 5-day-old human embryos equivalent to children? Biologically and in terms of just common sense, the answer is “no.” These tiny spheres have around 100 cells and no organs. Actual people have many trillions of cells, brains, and other organs. Alabama law on embryos may block IVF About …

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Weekly reads: cool olfactory tuft cells, T-cell therapy, NK cells

February 10, 2024 / By / Leave a Comment
Olfactory epithelium, Olfactory histology

There’s a fascinating type of olfactory cell. These so-called tuft cells have unusual characteristics, especially for nose cells. I had never heard of them before until reading a new article. The inside of the nose may not seem like a very attractive place but there are cool “nose stem cells” in there.  More broadly, there …

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Perspectives 10 years after STAP cells: the culture of science, misconduct, & hopes for progress

January 29, 2024 / By / 6 Comments
Haruko-Obokata-小保方-晴子-

Exactly ten years ago today, on January 29, 2014, I wrote about two new Nature papers on so-called STAP cells. The papers claimed that stress alone could convert regular non-stem cells into some of the most powerful stem cells. More specifically, the authors claimed to make pluripotent stem cells similar to iPS cells this way. …

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Weekly stem cell reads: cancer paper mess at DFCI, H3.3, knees, surfer keeps on posting

January 28, 2024 / By / Leave a Comment
Sholto David, stem cell, cancer retractions

It’s another one of those ‘double-grant’ weekends of grant writing (on brain cancer) and reviewing, but I’m still trying to find a bit of time for some other reading. There was some important news this week including a big mess of problematic papers at Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). Recommended reads Here’s the new WaPo …

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