Happy science Friday and here’s a TGIF list of recent stem cell news and papers. The FDA warning letter to Richard Burt of Northwestern related to noncompliance issues with his stem cell clinic trial for MS has dominated the news recently, but some other notable things have happened as well on stem cells and more […]
TGIF stem cell & science news bites Read More »
Could the blinding of three women at a stem cell clinic have been prevented by better oversight or was the clinic acting outside of the scope of oversight by its institutional review board (IRB)? More broadly, when is an IRB conducting proper oversight and how do we know? When on the other hand is it
Does stem cell clinic IRB approval mean much? Insights from blinding cases Read More »
A paper retraction is a major, painful step in science, but sometimes it is necessary and in the past few weeks we’ve seen news of two high-profile stem cell paper retractions. However, these retractions were handled entirely differently by those involved and were prompted by very distinct situations. Update: for some background on stem cell
A tale of two stem cell retractions: stark contrast between Macchiarini & Egli Read More »
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and with stem cell clinics and GoogleMaps, maybe it’s true. When Leigh Turner and I published our stem cell clinic paper in Cell Stem Cell last year, Beverly Hills stood out as a top hot spot for these businesses selling non-FDA approved stem cells. See the GoogleMap image
The Real Stem Cells of Beverly Hills? Read More »
Happy St. Patrick’s Day from the Irish Stem Cell Foundation (www.stemcell.ie)! I’ve included a few picture from the parade here in Ireland. Scientifically, Ireland is going through a lean period. The national science funding agency SFI is having its first grant call in 2 years. If recent history is a predictor, they are more likely
On St. Patrick’s Day, an update on stem cells in Ireland by Stephen Sullivan Read More »
Ring the bell for a stem cell milestone, specifically for iPS cell work. There’s been a whole lot of commotion about the NEJM article yesterday documenting the experiences of three women with macular degeneration who were blinded by non-FDA approved stem cell eye injections of fat stem cells at a business in Florida, but in the
Takahashi team IPS cell vision paper marks major stem cell milestone Read More »
Do three blinded US Stem Cell clinic patients with major or complete vision loss constitute a significant adverse outcome? I would say so and a new paper details how this happened apparently at a particular publically-traded South Florida stem cell clinic business. You can see the damaged retinas of one such patient below in an image
NEJM paper links 3 blinded patients to US Stem Cell clinic Read More »
The stem cell clinic business US Stem Cell Inc., formerly known as Bioheart, has seen its stock take a rollercoaster ride recently include a big run up and now today a big drop so what’s the scoop? US Stem Cell, which includes a few subsidiaries such as US Stem Cell Clinic, focuses on the use
What’s the deal with US Stem Cell Inc stock? Read More »
Over the years and in particular after Dr. Oz’s show a couple weeks ago, I’ve heard from many patients who are absolutely convinced that stem cell therapies do in fact work and are safe. They have been focused particularly on hematopoietic stem cell therapy (HSCT) for MS but also other investigational applications using a variety of stem
Navigating 4 key kinds of stem cell studies Read More »
Does it make any sense scientifically or medically to use stem cells for pain? I’m skeptical in most cases today. The whole idea of stem cells for pain has been on my mind for a number of reasons. For one thing, more stem cell clinics are marketing unproven stem cell therapies at a high price
Do stem cells for pain make any sense? Read More »