There’s a new paper in Cell Stem Cell on esophageal organoids that has really caught people’s attention. It is entitled, “3D Modeling of Esophageal Development using Human PSC-Derived Basal Progenitors Reveals a Critical Role for Notch Signaling.” It comes from a team led by Jianwen Que. Update: I didn’t realize when I first did this post that […]
Digesting new esophageal organoids papers Read More »
Time to sell exosome therapies to patients? No. Some stem cell clinics and related firms are looking for new ways to make profits and toward that goal a few have latched onto the legitimate buzz around exosome research. What are exosomes? Imagine if you could bubble up a pea-sized sphere off your skin full of
As exosome work advances, clinics pitch unproven therapies to patients Read More »
What’s Australia like from the science to the country? I enjoyed the ISSCR2018 Annual Meeting in Melbourne on stem cells and regenerative medicine a few weeks back(here is a post on the some of the notable science from Day 1), but I also got a chance to get to know Australia a bit too. Below I have
Fun pictures & 7 observations on the country from Australia trip Read More »
My first job in science was as a lab technician at UCSD School of Medicine and a big part of that job was growing cells called HUVECs or human umbilical vein endothelial cells. We isolated and grew the HUVECs from umbilical cords that we retrieved from the maternity ward of the UCSD hospital, which first
Why we shouldn’t view the human embryo as a gizmo even in the CRISPR era Read More »
The news that CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in its current form may not work in a substantial fraction of people due to many of us having immunity to Cas9 came as a shock to many, but if you think about it, maybe it’s not so surprising. I don’t see it as the end of the world. A (preprint) from
Keep calm & CRISPR on: perspectives on report of human Cas9 immunity Read More »
Australian stem cell biotech Mesoblast announced that it has received regenerative medicine advanced therapy (RMAT) designation from the U.S. FDA. This is very good news for the company and an encouraging development for the field. Interestingly, last month the FDA clarified that there is expanded RMAT designation that can include gene therapies too. At the Meeting
Mesoblast gets FDA RMAT; List of 10 total designations so far Read More »
Grad school…would you do it all over again if you could jump in a time machine? It’s hard to imagine, but it was 24 years ago that I started at UCSD as a graduate student. Think how different the world was in 1993. Now almost a quarter century later, the world of science is very
Twenty years later: would this dataholic still go to grad school? Read More »
There is a scientist’s dilemma: should you speak out on important, sometimes controversial issues in science, where you not only can potentially have positive impact, but also risk being attacked for it? Or do you remain silent? I’ve now been blogging for more than 7 years. I’ve battled the often exploitive for-profit stem cell clinics
Scientist’s dilemma: find a public voice on big issues or stay silent? Read More »
New FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, M.D., has in the past touched on stem cells and regenerative medicine therapies in speeches or written comments prior to starting his tenure at the agency. Now that he is Commissioner, he is poised to have direct impact on our field rather quickly and potentially with major changes in
Reading the tea leaves as new FDA commish Gottlieb blogs on regenerative medicine Read More »
2,000 is a big number. As of this week I’ve now published 2,000 posts here on The Niche since I started back in early 2010. I can’t quite believe it myself. To celebrate that milestone, I have revamped The Niche in terms of its organization and style with the help of a very skilled web
The Niche’s 2,000th post: where do we go from here? Read More »