Search Results for: COVID-19

2021 scorecard for stem cell stocks: REGN, VCEL, CCEL, LCTX did best

Mesoblast stock

A quick review of the publicly-traded stem cell stocks I’ve been following in 2021 finds mostly discouraging news, but a few firms relatively outperformed the other publically-traded biotechs. One had some great news today. In this post, I’m doing a brief overview of how things went this year in the regenerative medicine space. I’m going […]

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Explainer on 293 or HEK cells and their use in COVID vaccine research

HEK 293 cells Knoepfler Lab

A type of human cells used in research called HEK cells or 293s has been much in the news lately. This is mainly related to COVID-19 vaccine research. There seem to be many misunderstandings about 293 cells. For that reason, I thought I’d do this post to clear things up. I’ve been working with these

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About that Joe Rogan stem cell treatment & clinic promotion

Joe Rogan Stem Cells Mike Tyson

Joe Rogan first popped up more squarely on my radar screen years ago because of a concerning video that’s out there of him talking with Mel Gibson about stem cells. At the time it was one of the most-watched videos on YouTube on stem cells. I took apart that stem cell video and its claims including

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Weekly reads: CRISPR’d marsupial, outpatient recovery post stem cell transplants, Parkinson’s, pubs

CRISPR'd baby opossums.

This edition of The Niche weekly reads has a bit more good news than usual including on stem cell transplants. It’s nice to see positive developments like some recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplants being able to stay at home afterwards. Also, a reminder. You have until July 31 to enter our stem cell video

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FDA alleges Cell Surgical Network links to US Stem Cell & COVID plan

Sean Berman Cell Surgical Network, ACT

The FDA has sought injunctions in federal court against two stem cell clinic firms including the clinic chain Cell Surgical Network headquartered here in California and US Stem Cell in Florida. According to new documents filed by the government in federal court here in California there may be more ties between the clinic firms than

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What is Wharton’s jelly & its possible clinical uses?

Wharton's jelly umbilical cord H&E

For more than a year in my first job as a scientist I isolated cells from umbilical cord veins and then tossed the tissue away, never realizing there was more there that could be useful in the form of something called Wharton’s jelly. What’s in this article Umbilical cord histology & Wharton’s jelly | What

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Recommended reads: Bik, FDA letter, gecko cancer model, David Baltimore on COVID origin

gecko cancer

What can a gecko possibly teach us about skin cancer? Read on. It’s fun when a week’s worth of science reading covers so much territory including COVID-19, geckos that get cancer, a research misconduct sleuth, an FDA letter, and more. Baltimore weighs in on COVID lab origin idea Caltech has a very interesting interview with

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New data on stem cell clinics, INDs, & more including from FDA itself

arm slide fda trip program

The International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy or ISCT held a really interesting webinar yesterday on the FDA and unproven stem cell clinics. It was focused on the expiration of the FDA’s discretionary period on unproven stem cell clinics. What will the FDA do now? The webinar included some ideas and also quite a

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