Search Results for: direct reprogramming

Tumorigenicity and Pluripotency teased apart? Not yet for Myc

Fig.-5-Nakagawa-et-al.-Myc-in-cancer-and-IPScs

A paper just came out in PNAS entitled “Promotion of direct reprogramming by transformation-deficient Myc“. The main thrust of this paper is that the tumorigenic and pluripotency-related functions of Myc could be separated. It focused primarily on the lesser studied LMyc. The topic of the intertwined good (pluripotency) and bad (tumorigenicity) functions of Myc, addressed […]

Tumorigenicity and Pluripotency teased apart? Not yet for Myc Read More »

Recommended reads: Shinya interview, MYC-MAX & extra digits, microglia as a therapy, oocyte maintenance

N-myc, heterochromatin

The proto-oncogene MYC is one of those factors studied in thousands of papers. MYC and its dimerize partner MAX are also seemingly involved in just about everything. They have crucial roles in many kinds of stem cells including adult and embryonic stem cells. One way or another MYC induction seems very helpful for cellular reprogramming

Recommended reads: Shinya interview, MYC-MAX & extra digits, microglia as a therapy, oocyte maintenance Read More »

Recent stem cell & regenerative medicine good news

stem cell good news, good news

Looking for some stem cell good news? You’ll like today’s post. One mission of this blog The Niche is to promote rigorous science-based regenerative medicine, which can lead to investigating and writing about not-so-upbeat stuff. Risky clinics. People getting hurt. Patient lawsuits. Serious FDA, FTC, or state AG regulatory developments. Such actions can be good

Recent stem cell & regenerative medicine good news Read More »

Weekly reads: brain aging, perinatal stem cell clinics, $1M lab meat fine bill

brain aging

What happens during brain aging and how can we tell if dementia is coming? Are there particular early hallmarks? There are an increasing number of medical tests for predicting or detecting dementia. Alzheimer’s disease can often be detected early. But what do patients or their doctors do with such information? Until recently there weren’t any

Weekly reads: brain aging, perinatal stem cell clinics, $1M lab meat fine bill Read More »

Weekly reads: game of clones, super-SOX, Moonwalk Bio, Great Wall’s living skin

dog clones

I’m trying to remember the first time I ever heard about clones. It had to be as a kid. Maybe in a monster movie or TV show? Possibly a clone was referred to by the more general term “double”, which is not necessarily a clone. Whatever it was, I’m sure as a kid that I

Weekly reads: game of clones, super-SOX, Moonwalk Bio, Great Wall’s living skin Read More »

20 stem cell & regenerative medicine predictions for 2024

Stem cell, crystal ball, predictions

Each year I make predictions for the stem cell and regenerative medicine field for the following year. Today’s prediction post is focused on what to expect in 2024. You can also see my stem cell predictions for 2023 and my grades on how I did. I also have made a video version of these predictions so please

20 stem cell & regenerative medicine predictions for 2024 Read More »

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

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

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

Weekly reads: Verve Therapeutics, Casgevy UK OK, GDNF, MYC

Sekar Kathiresan, Verve Therapeutics

Some folks can view data from early, small clinical trials too skeptically or overly enthusiastically, and maybe that’s going on with some preliminary results from Verve Therapeutics. Good news? Bad news? I’m going to start with two articles about the same news that have very different vibes. What do I think? On the whole, I

Weekly reads: Verve Therapeutics, Casgevy UK OK, GDNF, MYC Read More »

Weekly reads: late Macchiarini retractions, stem cells & Lululemon

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

Weekly reads: late Macchiarini retractions, stem cells & Lululemon Read More »