For years I’ve been writing about fat stem cell clinics that sell non-FDA approved stem cell “treatments” to vulnerable patients right here in America. These clinics have been sprouting up like mushrooms across the US and their numbers may be above 200 today overall. As a result perhaps it was inevitable that one would arrive in […]
My new ‘neighbor’ in Sacramento: a fat stem cell clinic Read More »
Is it the beginning of the end for dubious American clinics that sell transplants of unproven and non-FDA approved fat stem cell injections? As the year of 2014 was winding down, the FDA issued two key new draft guidances (see here and here) that could prove to be crash diets for these burgeoning fat stem cell clinics. (Update: As of
FDA to Put Mushrooming Fat Stem Cell Clinics on Crash Diet? Read More »
With a new document released today the FDA is more clearly on a path to regulate dubious stem cell clinics in the US. Update: in the years since this post, the FDA has more concretely defined autologous adipose stem cells as drug products. There are more than 100 such American clinics that are selling stem
FDA Draft Guidance Views Fat Stem Cells As Drugs Read More »
A hot topic in biomedical sciences is converting white “bad” fat into brown “good” fat. The latter type of adipose is viewed more positively because it seems to be associated with a relatively metabolically more active, leaner state. Could we somehow convert white adipose to brown adipose and in so doing have a beneficial effect
Harvard Predicts Fat Burning Stem Cell Pill To Replace Exercise Read More »
You can jailbreak your iPhone, but perhaps you can jailbreak a cell too to turn it into a stem cell. In his very cool talk up here at the Till & McCulloch Meeting on Stem Cells yesterday, Andras Nagy characterized the reprogramming process to make iPS cells as “jailbreaking” cell fate. Nagy described some intriguing studies done on
Jailbreak Cell Fate to Reprogram Stem Cells Read More »
Two emerging acronyms in the for-profit stem cell world that remain unknown to most academic stem cell scientists, but that are generating the most buzz are: SVF and CAL. These are two fat acronyms. What? These acronyms relate to adipose (fat) stem cell-based procedures. SVF stands for “stromal vascular fraction”. SVF is, for lack of
SVF & CAL are two fat stem cell acronyms generating a lot of buzz Read More »
Dr. Zannos Grekos has administered so-called stem cell-based treatments to patients, at least two of whom have died following treatment in the last couple years. It is an understatement to say that Grekos is in serious hot water with various authorities at the state and federal levels. In the case of a 77-year old man
Remember cryonics, the idea that you could hit pause on human life? This relies on the super-cold power of liquid nitrogen or some other ultra-freezing method. Apparently cryonics is still a thing and there are people with even just their heads frozen. A new story claims a different way to hit the pause button on
Weekly reads: hit pause on human life, CIRM pause, 23andMe data, blast from the past Read More »
Do stem cells for Long COVID make sense including for associated brain issues? Two readers of The Niche asked me this question recently. Let’s discuss it. Stem cells for Long COVID worth trying? What is Long COVID? A sizable fraction of people who get COVID-19 never fully recover. They may have symptoms like fatigue, brain
Readers’ question: do stem cells for Long COVID make sense including for brain fog? Read More »
I’ve written before about so-called test-tube burgers and bacon and other lab grown meat. Test-tube burgers Cells like muscle and fat progenitor cells are the basis for these products. Sometimes stem cells may come into play for such “test-tube burgers” as I generally call this type of lab meat. Cost seems to be a main
Weekly reads: test-tube burgers, CRISPR for space travel, more tuft cells Read More »