The FDA and its CBER branch have been doing a good job overall in the last 3+ years to tackle the unproven stem cell clinic problem, but lately on the stem cells for COVID-19 front there is reason for real concern. I believe the agency is taking on major risk overall by clearing a vast number of …
Politics & FDA OK of 2 stem cell clinic COVID-19 efforts Read More »
Many are jumping on the bandwagon of trying stem cells for COVID-19 or testing other cellular therapies for the novel coronavirus disease, but there have been problems with either the rationales for the trials themselves or more often with how they portrayed. Sometimes there has even been outright hype. I’ve called this collective trend of …
Overselling stem cells for COVID-19: WSJ article & UMN PR Read More »
Today’s post is the latest edition of my weekly recommended reads, which this week include Fate Therapeutics, COVID-19 updates, AAMC, and more including some great pubs such as one on 2 modes of PRC2 function. Also check out this handy resource: Helpful 2020 List of Stem Cell Journals and this blast from the past post of 10 …
Recommended reads: COVID-19 updates, FDA stem cell nod, PRC2, more Read More »
What are you reading these days and does it include topics like cell therapies for COVID-19, ALS, regenerative potential of fibroblasts, and why Zoom meetings are so tiring for the brain? I cover those topics and more below with recommended reads including papers and media items. Here’s last week’s recommended reads. Here’s to fibroblasts, which …
Weekend recommended reads: Athersys, ALS, COVID-19, Fibroblasts, Zoom brain Read More »
In COVID-19, the sense of smell can diminish, vanish, or oddly skew, for weeks or months. The loss usually starts suddenly and is more than the temporarily dulled chemical senses of a stuffy nose from the common cold. As researchers followed up mounting reports of loss of olfaction, a surprising source of perhaps the longest-lasting …
Sniffing Out Stem Cells Behind COVID-Skewed Olfaction Read More »
This is a post by Mina Kim, a UC Davis student intern for The Niche blog, about the main types of cellular therapies being studied clinically for COVID-19. During the novel coronavirus pandemic with millions of COVID-19 cases, the development of safe and effective treatments for patients is vital. Cellular medicine treatments are one of …
Review of 4 cell therapy types under study for COVID-19 Read More »
Here are our weekly recommended regenerative medicine and other notable science reads including a few things on COVID. It’s been quite an interesting week. “Junk DNA” is not so junky, role in differentiation NIH scientists showed how ancient retroviral genes, or “junk DNA”, may play a role in helping stem cells decide to become neurons. This …
Weekly reads: ‘junk DNA’, COVID chaos, CRISPR CasΦ, & postdoc opps, more Read More »
The biotech Mesoblast is starting an expanded access study of its stem cell product for kids with a severe offshoot of COVID-19. The cellular drug in this case is remestemcel-L (more below). While most children fare better than adults in dealing with COVID-19, the rare subset of kids with COVID-19 for this study have more severe …
Why is former Texas Governor/Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry plugging unproven stem cells from a clinic firm called Celltex for COVID-19 prevention on Fox News? Perry follows in Giuliani’s footsteps? And more generally, what is it with conservative politicians promoting unproven therapies for COVID-19 and in particular stem cells for the novel coronavirus disease? First, …
Rick Perry plugs Celltex MSCs on Fox for COVID-19 prevention Read More »
Katie Thomas at the New York Times reports that BARDA has dropped considering funding applications for stem cells for COVID-19. The move is part of a larger shift in funding priorities away from lung treatments and toward vaccine development. The decision has puzzled and even angered some stem cell firms and researchers. BARDA stands for …
BARDA drops funding of research into stem cells for COVID-19 Read More »