It’s been a cool week for stem cell and other associated kinds of research. In this post I have a series of links to a variety of interesting developments and papers. Gene therapy cures bubble boy infants. William Wan over at the WaPo on this good news. Nope, this wasn’t done with CRISPR, but rather […]
Every so often here on The Niche I list science and news articles worth a look as “weekend reads”. Below is my list for this weekend. Enjoy! The first article doesn’t really fit into the other main categories, but the title “herding brains” caught my eye. Stem Cells Stem cells and regenerative capacity in aging
Weekend reads include herding brains, stem cells, & CRISPR Read More »
Can we humans grow healthy new brain cells as adults and during later aging? The answer to this question is a big deal because it could have major impact on aging. Those hoped-for new brain cells could keep our brains functionally younger. Who doesn’t want to slow down the aging of their brain, right? Slowing
Aging: can we grow new brain cells as adults? Read More »
Here are some stem cell reads for the weekend, ranging from media to research articles. TGIF! What are your stem cell or other science weekend reads? Let’s start with how difficult it is to make IPS cells from naked mole rats! Naked Mole Rat Cells Have a Stable Epigenome that Resists iPSC Reprogramming. It takes more than
Weekend Stem Cell Reads: Naked mole rats, geckos, brain gel, & more Read More »
What happens following pluripotent stem cell transplants into the brain? Are human IPS and ES cells going to function similarly in this context? We recently published a new translational paper on the behavior of human pluripotent stem cells when transplanted into the adult mouse brain in collaboration with my great UC Davis colleague, Dr. Veronica Martinez-Cerdeno.
Is there a stem cell connection between the brain and aging? Could a type of brain stem cell or the exosomes it secretes control whole body aging? A recent big Nature article from the lab of Dongcheng Cai argues an emphatic “Yes” to these questions, at least in mice. In the Zhang, et al paper, entitled
Review of Nature paper: stem cell exosomes on the brain and aging Read More »
I was really sad when I heard about John McCain’s diagnosis with a glioblastoma, a particularly nasty type of brain tumor that we study in my lab when it shows up in children. My own battle with prostate cancer starting almost 8 years ago might have sensitized me to this news even though I’m in
3 Ways Stem Cells Theoretically May Help John McCain Beat Brain Tumor Read More »
What’s the hardest thing we ever do with our brains on average during a lifetime? Our brains are wonderful things that some have called the most complicated structures in the known universe, but what exactly do we do with them? Do we tax them fully during our lives? The old cliché that we only use
What is hardest thing we do with our brains in a lifetime? 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 »
There has been much attention to the link between Zika and microcephaly. How does Zika cause microcephaly or does it even directly cause microcephaly. Has the latter been concretely proven? There are even more questions. A cool new Cell Stem Cell paper gives us some key insights. The manuscript from a team led by Guo-Li
Zika infects and zaps human brain stem cells Read More »