Search Results for: US Stem Cell

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

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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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Quick reaction to milestone ViaCyte data on a diabetes patient

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VC-01-post-implant-final1-e1503703572933, viacyte

ViaCyte released encouraging data just now on a patient with implanted stem cell-derived pancreas-like device whose diabetes improved. You can read more about this in the Endpoints piece that I linked to in the previous sentence. Stem cells for diabetes; the ViaCyte update The idea of stem cells for diabetes has been more on my

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Weekly reads: escape to New York, CRISPR baby patents, ISSCR guidelines, pubs

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the high line in manhattan

My to-read list this weekend includes a range of papers along with various news & media including a report of two US research groups aiming to get CRISPR baby patents. More on that below. At long last a trip + fun thing to do in NYC Last week I took my first trip in more

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Risks rise as ISSCR drops strict 14-day rule on human embryo growth in the lab

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mouse embryos grown outside the lab

Something called the 14-day rule on growing human embryos in the lab helped keep a tough question in check for a long time: when is it ethically wrong or just practically unwise to continue growing a human embryo for research? There is no good answer based on science or anything else. ISSCR moves beyond strict

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Weekly reads: Orchard punts on life-saving SCID trial, cardioids with cavities, more

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cardioids stem cells

Sometimes things in the stem cell world get complicated and this week is no exception with news of Orchard Therapeutics dropping a seemingly life-saving clinical trial. There are hundreds of kids who could possibly benefit. Rotten apple decision from Orchard Therapeutics From David Jensen at California Stem Cell Report we have something of a scoop:

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When does a human embryo model become the real thing & other tough questions for a new field

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human embryo model mukul tewary sm

A human embryo model is a laboratory-produced collection of living cells that has some key things in common with real human embryos. They are made from pluripotent stem cells, which include embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells. This research is both exciting and ethically complicated, raising some difficult questions. Embryo

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Weekly reads: oncodevelopmental factors, iPSC cancer vaccine, more

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stem cell vaccine paper ouyang et al

One of my main research interests is in oncodevelopmental factors. These include factors that are important both for normal stem cell biology and development as well as driving cancer when misregulated. One example includes the MYC family of proto-oncogenes. When I was a postdoc I got especially interested in trying to understand the normal role

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Ukraine clinic seems to backpedal from CRISPR people idea

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medeus clinic doctors. their recruitment emails had suggest a goal to crispr people for trait enhancement.

I wrote earlier this week about Medeus clinic in Ukraine seemingly trying to recruit genetics researchers to CRISPR people for trait enhancement. Aiming for CRISPR people with trait enhancement? In the recruitment emails they sent out it seemed fairly clear that they were planning to do CRISPR on people somehow via stem cells. They mentioned

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Ukraine clinic plans to sell CRISPR enhancements: hair color, skin, & breast size

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medeus clinic crispr enhancements

It was a couple of years back that researcher He Jiankui claimed he made three “CRISPR babies.” No one would think about doing any kind of rogue gene-editing again, right? Not even somatic gene edits. After all, as far as we know he’s in jail. We still don’t know the health risks that these three

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As Neuroskeptic blog ends, reflections on skeptical science blogging

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skeptic magazine science blogging

It seems like being somewhat skeptical would be an inherent part of being a biomedical scientist. But not always it seems. On the other hand, some of us take it to another level by science blogging out our skepticism about certain topics. Note that there’s something called the Skeptics Society that publishes a magazine Skeptic.

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