Search Results for: leigh turner

Fact-check of stem cell therapy for pain & neuropathy

knoepfler turner cell stem cell 2016 fig. 2b stem cells for pain and other conditions

Does it make any sense medically or scientifically to use stem cell therapy for pain or neuropathy? There isn’t much solid evidence that this is a good way to go. However, there’s a vast scope of research ongoing in this area. Stem cell clinics have been earning millions of dollars selling this idea too. The […]

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FDA to end ‘grace period’ on stem cell clinics: agency should ‘go big’ on continued offenders

stem cell clinics map

Stem cell clinics violating federal regulations have been a major problem for the FDA. Next month the FDA faces a historic moment on this problem. A grace period for clinics to become FDA compliant ends in May. Even so, it appears that hundreds of clinics will remain non-compliant after that. Some of the worst clinics

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Multipotent and totipotent vs pluripotent stem cells

Multipotent & totipotent vs pluripotent stem cells, very early human embryos totipotent stem cells

What’s the difference between multipotent stem cells, totipotent stem cells, and pluripotent stem cells? The goal of today’s post is to help you learn and be clear on the differences. What’s in this article Definition of stem cells |Totipotent vs pluripotent stem cells | Pluripotent stem cells | Multipotent stem cells | The best kind of stem

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Fact-Checking Panama stem cell institute: cost, safety, efficacy, docs

Somehow time has flown by so that I’ve been around for ages in the stem cell universe and some unproven stem cell clinic-type firms, like the well-known Panama stem cell clinic that sells autism “treatments”, are also long-timers. It’s been an odd parallel existence for more than a decade. Today’s post is focused on this

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Mesenchymal cells or MSCs: definition, clinical potential, challenges

mesenchymal cells, MSCs, mesenchymal stem cells, multipotent stem cells

I’m old enough to remember when the acronym MSC stood unambiguously for “mesenchymal stem cells”, but should it refer to a broader term like “mesenchymal cells”? The field has moved in that direction. I think that’s the best way to go too and I’ll explain why. The goal of today’s post is to help you

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The Niche reads: COVID, new INDs, clinic suits, papers

duan et al current biology 2021 fig 1b, The Niche recommended reads

Here are my recommended weekly reads for The Niche readership for early February 2021 including COVID-19 and stem cell lawsuit updates, papers, and more. How many papers do you end up reading each week or month these days? More or less than before the pandemic? COVID-19 updates New diabetes cases linked to covid-19, WaPo  ICYMI

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Our Educational Mission on The Niche Stem Cell Site

KnoepflerStemSymbol

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

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More Duke Autism Center backstory: stem cell ‘magic’ & money

Duke-Curemark-autism-study-pamphlet

Last week I wrote a long post detailing the troubling multimillion-dollar reverberations between the Duke Autism Center and a for-profit stem cell clinic. The clinic in Panama is The Stem Cell Institute. The potential entanglements raise a bunch of questions and concerns. They center on questionable, unproven autism “treatments”. In Duke’s case, their own clinical

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