Search Results for: stem cell therapy

Review of cord banker Viacord: dubious autism claims & other concerns

Viacord is one of the most well known firms in the for-profit cord blood banking industry. Today’s post is a review of the firm. I see concrete reasons for concern. What is Viacord? | Dubious autism claims | Viacord cost | Overall Review | References What is Viacord? As a cord blood banking firm, Viacord freezes …

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Weekly reads: taste buds, organoids, good news on CRISPR safety

Taste buds diagram

As I’ve mentioned recently, it’s my busy time for medical school teaching and not long ago we did a GI lab that included one of my favorite structures in the course: taste buds. Taste buds The medical students seem fascinated with taste buds too. I can tell as their professor when something is particularly interesting …

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‘We don’t want to freak people out’: about that Jacob Hanna human embryo model startup

Jacob Hanna Renewal Bio

Stem cell biologist Jacob Hanna has a new startup called Renewal Bio. Its goal is to harvest cells or tissues from human embryo or fetus models for clinical use. I believe that their commercial ambitions have so far outstripped careful thought and discussion in the broader community of researchers. There are major risks here for …

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In big shift Dr. Robert Lanza exits Astellas

Dr. Robert Lanza

The recent news of Vertex Pharma buying small stem cell biotech ViaCyte and Doug Melton moving to Vertex brought to mind an old stem cell biotech called Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) and its leader, stem cell biologist Dr. Robert Lanza. Years ago, big pharma firm Astellas bought ACT and Lanza moved to be a leader of regenerative …

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Weekly reads: NIH grants, side effect of darker hair, FDA warning, CRISPR

Grant writers handbook, grants cartoon

The last six months I’ve been spending even more time than usual writing NIH grants (and a few others). The last two weeks have been especially busy on this front as I am getting an R01 renewal out the door. My paper reading lately has been mostly related to the grant writing I’m doing. Still, …

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Weekly reads: teratoma in iPSC trial, Piero Anversa & friends, Athersys, China Initiative

Dr-Piero-Anversa

It’s been mostly a downbeat week on the stem cell news front including a deep revisit by Reuters to the Piero Anversa case that has new revelations. It’s ugly stuff involving other folks too. We’ll start on the iPS cell front, where a trial participant had a teratoma. I’ve had a long-standing interest in the …

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What is an FDA warning letter & how should firms respond

FDA warning letter

Firms that are active in the biologics space face many possible challenges but the possibility of getting an FDA warning letter is one of the most intense. The goal of today’s post is to explain what an FDA warning letter is all about. This analysis includes what such a letter means and what steps come …

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Recommend reads: CRISPR baby guy free, DNMT3, sperm, Editas, hearing loss, reprogramming

Dura et al sperm development

We often don’t think of them that way but reproductive cells like sperm and egg are also relatives of stem cells, and it turns out that there are stem cells that make the reproductive cells too like sperm stem cells. Sperm and germ cell stem cells DNMT3A-dependent DNA methylation is required for spermatogonial stem cells …

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Altos Labs: mission, leadership, jobs, & CIRM

Altos Labs

At the beginning of the year I wrote about a new kind of biotech called Altos Labs. It’s very different in some ways from other institutions. I find it an intriguing research entity. Where do things stand now with Altos Labs a few months later? More information, new ideas,  and questions have popped up in the …

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Centers for Respiratory Health is new incarnation of clinic Lung Health Institute

Centers for Respiratory Health, lung health institute

Many firms that generally fall into the category of unproven stem cell or cell therapy clinics have a way of reinventing themselves and I’ve seen this with one formerly named the Lung Institute that is now called Centers for Respiratory Health. First the Lung Institute became the Lung Health Institute. Now that firm has become …

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