A new Cell Stem Cell paper by Victoria L. Mascetti and Roger Pedersen on human-mouse chimera modeling is quite interesting and important. I really enjoyed this short paper, but I do have a reservation about one way that it is being interpreted. The authors show that human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) including induced pluripotent stem cells […]
Perspectives on Pedersen Lab Human-Mouse Chimera Paper Read More »
David Jensen reports on the future of CIRM as a “beautiful machine”. CIRM funds brain cancer research in a big way: Funding a clinical trial for deadly cancer is a no brainer. Glioblastoma is a fatal tumor that needs new clinical approaches so this is exciting. One of the goals of my lab is to find new
Weekend science reading: fantastic found links including on CIRM Read More »
CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology is red-hot right now and I’ve been doing interviews with various thought leaders on it, which today includes Steven Pinker. This technology has great power for research in the lab and there are hypothetical transformative clinical applications of CRISPR too. The latter efforts could include experimental attempts at reversal of disease-causing
Steven Pinker interview: case against bioethocrats & CRISPR germline ban Read More »
Stem cell biotech company Bioheart ($BHRT) has had a rough 2015 so far. Could this year be a decisive, negative tipping point for the company? It has a number of clinical trials going, but from my view things seem increasingly uncertain. An oddity amongst stem cell biotechs, Bioheart and its leadership have at times seemed to toy
Bioheart on the edge in 2015? Read More »
I invited the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Bioheart, Kristin Comella, to do an interview after hearing some buzz that this could be a critical time for the company and that it might have been recently visited by the FDA. Note that Comella not just Bioheart CSO, but also the primary instructor for physician training in stem
Interview with Bioheart CSO, Kristin Comella including on FDA Read More »
By Jane Langille A few weeks ago, I wrote to Dr. Paul Knoepfler after reading his book Stem Cells: An Insider’s Guide because I was intrigued by his stem cell theory of aging. I wondered if his theory might mean that someone who mobilized and donated hematopoietic cells might be shortening their own lifetime supply. After
Risks for Healthy PBSC Donors? One Family’s Powerful Experience Read More »
In the last few months the FDA has taken steps toward crystalizing regulatory oversight of stem cell and more broadly cell and tissue-based therapies. These steps come in the form of several draft guidances (see here, here, and here) . The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) has responded to the draft guidance on Minimal Manipulation. For example, ARM has
ARM Asks FDA for Clarification on Draft Guidance on Minimal Manipulation Read More »
The pieces on my radar screen to read in my ample spare time as I work the weekend on literally 5 different grants include these pieces: NECSS and SfSBM: A weekend of science and skepticism Breaking Down Fat: Trends in adipose cell-based clinical trials PubPeer Selections: Odd citations, “practice makes perfect,” a Nature update Right Turn:
Recommended Weekend Science Reads Read More »
The Niche is the top, most authoritative stem cell and regenerative medicine blog on the web and the only one to our knowledge written by a professor. It is mainly written by Professor Paul Knoepfler of UC Davis School of Medicine, an internationally respected stem cell biologist and educator. Knoepfler is an advocate of rigorous
About Us, The Niche and Knoepfler Lab Read More »
The reviews of a STAP paper submitted to and rejected by the journal Science in 2012 were posted at Retraction Watch yesterday. They filled in some gaps in the puzzle of the series of events that led to such flawed science being published in Nature in January 2014, but the reviews also raised more questions. Today, more STAP paper
STAP papers blistered by Nature’s own reviewers were then accepted Read More »