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 …
FDA alleges Cell Surgical Network links to US Stem Cell & COVID plan Read More »
By Jeanne Loring A stem cell anniversary: 18 years ago today that the US initiated funding of human embryonic stem cell research. August 9, 2001 was a big day for me. George W. Bush was the US president, and it was an understatement to say that I was not very fond of his policies; but …
Jeanne Loring: hES cell research, Bush, & her career Read More »
Historically, the main route of proposed healing via stem cell therapy was cell replacement. In this way of thinking the transplanted cells engrafted (took up home) in the patient’s tissue and replaced dead or diseased cells. However, interest continues to grow in other possible modes of healing by stem cells that don’t rely on cell …
4 possible roles for stem cell therapy besides cell replacement Read More »
Here are some headlines & articles worth a look and some thought on stem cell and biomedical science more generally. Gallup finds in a new poll that 60% of Americans surveyed find human embryonic stem celsl research “largely acceptable”. On the other hand human reproductive cloning is highly frowned upon, sandwiched in the “highly unacceptable …
Weekend reads: ES cell research polls well, Gordie Howe, MS, IPS cells, and more Read More »
Four or five years ago the top stem cell story was the battle over federal funding of human embryonic stem (ES) cell research in the U.S. by James Sherley and Theresa Deisher. They were the two opponents of ES cell research making the most national headlines. Nature did a whole piece back then on Deisher …
Where are ES cell foes James Sherley & Theresa Deisher now? Read More »
It’s a particularly exciting time for the stem cell field. One of the most notable developments in the last year or so is the production and preliminary study of a totally new type of human embryonic stem cells (ESC) made by nuclear transfer instead of using leftover in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos. This process of so-called …
Dieter Egli Interview: NT-ES cells, IPSC, Mitochondrial Transfer, & More Read More »
Advances in therapeutic cloning reported in the past year have been very exciting as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) can be used to produce very powerful human embryonic stem cells (ESC). These new cells are called NT-ESCs for short. Neither embryos nor reprogramming factors are needed to produce human NT-ESCs. See here, here and here for discussions of the pioneering papers reporting creation of …
Future of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer to make ES Cells Read More »
Stem cell biotech BioTime announced the news today that its subsidiary Cell Cure Neurosciences (Cell Cure) has filed an IND with the FDA for an embryonic stem (ES) cell-based therapy for Dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The product to be tested is OpRegen, which the company indicates is “the first IND for an ES cell-based …
BioTime Cell Cure Files IND with FDA for ES cell AMD therapy Read More »
Just how good are human embryonic stem (ES) cells made by therapeutic cloning via nuclear transfer, with the successful technique first reported by the lab of Shoukhrat Mitalipov at OHSU last year? How do they compare to induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells or traditional ES cells made from IVF embryos? A new paper in Nature directly tackles these …
Review of Mitalipov Nature paper: cloned ES cells vs iPS cells Read More »
It was great being a postdoc in Bob Eisenman’s Lab at the Hutch in Seattle. I loved it. Bob is a great mentor (see more on my experience there here) and the scientific interactions in the lab were wonderful. It’s been fun and interesting to follow the work of my fellow former Eisenman lab members over the …
Cool paper by Cowley Lab on the role of HDACs in ES cells Read More »