Search Results for: cancer stem cells

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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New Year’s reads: having a blastema, gene therapy cost, pathogen lab escape data

December 31, 2023 / By / 4 Comments
blastema

Years ago I wrote about how I wished humans could form a blastema, which is a special area of regeneration near an injury that drives tissue replacement. For example, when a lizard loses its tail to a pursuing bobcat, if it can regrow a new one that process will depend on a blastema. The same goes …

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2023 stem cell predictions grades reflect wild year for regenerative medicine

December 27, 2023 / By / 1 Comment
stem cell predictions

Every year I make stem cell and regenerative medicine predictions. Looking at my predictions for 2023, they reflect a wild year but in many ways a good one overall. Below I have graded my 2023 predictions. Overall, my crystal ball gave solid results. Some of the predictions have been condensed to keep things concise, but you …

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Holiday reads: woolly dog vs. mammoth, man eggs, designer B-cells, bluebird bio blues

December 23, 2023 / By / Leave a Comment
woolly dog

What is a woolly dog? Is it somehow related to the Woolly Mammoth? Before we get into that and the rest of my recommended reads, note that I’m finalizing my list of contenders for this year’s The Screamers Science Hype Awards. Last year The BBC won The Screamers for an article “Baby’s life ‘probably saved’ …

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Weekly reads: stem cells for MS, good news x2, extending dog years, Neuralink updates

December 2, 2023 / By / 2 Comments
stem cells for MS

For about as long as I’ve been writing The Niche, people have been asking about stem cells for MS. There’s a huge need for new therapies. While a chemo-based approach with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) looks to work for certain cases of multiple sclerosis (although not yet approved in the US), other cell …

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Some CAR-T may very rarely cause new cancers

November 30, 2023 / By / 1 Comment
CAR-T, CAR-T cancer

The FDA issued a statement this week that there have been reports of new cases of blood cancer after patients received CAR-T therapies. The FDA specifically mentions T cell malignancies. New cancers in rare cases? In the announcement, FDA Investigating Serious Risk of T-cell Malignancy Following BCMA-Directed or CD19-Directed Autologous Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell …

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Weekly reads: clonal expansion, Golden Retriever cancer, FTC hits genetics firm on testi-phony-als

November 25, 2023 / By / 1 Comment
clonal selection

Let’s start this week’s digest with a discussion of clonal expansion and mutations during cell and gene therapy development. Here’s the article that brought this to mind. Sickle cell gene therapy process may cause cancer-linked mutations in blood stem cells, Fierce Biotech. Clonal expansion This is a story about a non-CRISPR gene therapy using a …

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Weekly reads: late Macchiarini retractions, stem cells & Lululemon

October 28, 2023 / By / 8 Comments
Paolo-Macchiarini

Paolo Macchiarini is one of a small group of people in the stem cell universe whose misconduct has blown up in the press. Piero Anversa, Haruko Obokata, Hwang Woo-Suk, and some operators in the unproven stem cell clinic sphere come to mind. Macchiarini published quite a few seriously problematic papers, some of which just hung …

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Lessons from 4 stem cell stocks that tanked: Celularity, Athersys, Mesoblast, BrainStorm Cell

October 3, 2023 / By / 11 Comments
Athersys stock, Athersys, stem cell stocks

I’ve been following 24 stem cell stocks for a few years. I haven’t invested in them or any others recently, but rather just find them interesting. How are these doing in 2023? Mostly not great. In some cases, it is downright disastrous. Let’s take a quick look at four stocks very much in the news over …

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Weekly reads: big Retraction Watch news, stem cells & metastasis, an FDA approval, Iowa AG sues clinic

September 16, 2023 / By / Leave a Comment
Retraction watch

Retraction Watch has been a great resource for those of us who have been following research misconduct. They widely cover and conduct research on retractions, corrections, and other developments in this space. Unfortunately, there’s been plenty to write about even just within the stem cell and cell therapy arena, which is my primary interest. Think …

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