In the whirlwind that is the stem cell and regenerative medicine world, there are many concerning things that need attention, but also good stuff happens too and this post focuses on the positive. The Asterias spinal cord injury clinical trial, a phase 1/2a trial called SCiStar, continues to make encouraging news with a clean safety profile […]
Good stem cell news on trials, FDA, cool new papers & more Read More »
What were the top posts here on The Niche for the past year? I’ve listed some of them below along with some posts from 2015 that remain highly read. Some top 2016 posts 20 Nominees for Stem Cell Person of the Year 2016 Award REGROW Act is Attack on Science-Based Stem Cell Trial Oversight Will new
The Niche top posts of 2016 Read More »
What are the hottest stem cell trends in the field today? Depends who you ask, right? One impartial way to look at stem cell trends is through the lens of publication citations and the focuses of top stem cell papers. In that perhaps somewhat skewed, but interesting approach, the words used in the titles of the
Text mining hottest 50 papers reveals hottest 2016 stem cell trends Read More »
I received a score of great nominations for the Stem Cell Person of the Year 2016 Award and have briefly described the twenty nominees below. The point of the award is to honor the top positive stem cell leader who specifically thinks outside the box and takes risks. I’ve started an on-line vote where you can vote once per day for
20 Nominees for Stem Cell Person of the Year 2016 Award Read More »
Rainbow stem cell clones. From Scientific Reports: NF-kappaΒ-inducing kinase regulates stem cell phenotype in breast cancer. How to harvest stem cells from teeth Stem Cell Transplant Startup With Harvard Tech, Magenta Therapeutics, Gets $48.5M Neurogenic Radial Glia-like Cells in Meninges Migrate and Differentiate into Functionally Integrated Neurons in the Neonatal Cortex (from Cell Stem Cell). Researchers Grow Functioning Human Intestines, Nerves Using Stem
A feast of post-Thanksgiving stem cell news bites Read More »
I appreciate fun linguistic approaches to explaining science such as a good science metaphor and I use them myself at times, but sometimes these end up risking doing much more harm than good. The best or should I say worst example I’ve heard recently is referring to a growth factor called BDNF as “Miracle-Gro for the brain”.
Risky science metaphor: BDNF as ‘Miracle-Gro for the brain’ Read More »
KPBS reporter David Wagner has an important new piece out today on for-profit investigational stem cell treatments and he focuses to a large extent on a stem cell business in San Diego called Stemedica. If you’ve heard of this company it might be in part because they were involved in the Gordie Howe stem cells for stroke story that got
KPBS sheds new light on Jim Gass stem cell case, Stemedica Read More »
What does Google think (if Google does indeed think) are top 10 stem cell news stories right now? I took a screen shot below. Here are some thoughts on those stories. First, lung organoids are neat, but they have been grown before by several groups. Why is that the top story? I’d have to ask Google. Better
Google Stem Cell News Stories: Perspectives Read More »
What can go wrong with unapproved stem cell clinic offerings? The answer including from presentations at the FDA today turns out to be very serious, negative results right here in the U.S. Thomas Albini, MD gave a talk entitled, “Severe Visual Loss After Intravitreal Injection of Autologous Adipose Tissue-derived Stem Cells for Age-related Macular Degeneration”.
Negative stem cell clinic outcomes include 3 blinded women Read More »
The FDA is holding its first 2016 stem cell meeting today and you can read about some impressions of the morning session of this meeting here. In this post, I’m focusing on the afternoon session, which has been mostly on policy and ethics, including on stem cell clinics. Jonathan Kimmelman from McGill University got the afternoon going
Blogging today’s FDA stem cell meeting: Part 2 Clinics, Policy & Ethics Read More »