The stem cell field has puzzled on and off for years over a constellation of papers on purported stem cells including so-called VSEL and MUSE cells. Many of us haven’t been convinced that these are real stem cells. I see VSEL and MUSE fitting into a larger pattern of dubious stem cell claims including the STAP […]
STAP cell deja vu? 28 VSEL papers flagged by Bik Read More »
What should we consider when seeing marketing for sexual enhancements like vaginal rejuvenation? Fact checking vaginal rejuvenation with stem cells When you read marketing terms like “stem cell treatment for sexual enhancement” or more specifically stem cells for “vaginal rejuvenation” what comes to mind? And are stem cell treatments a viable option for vaginal rejuvenation
Red flags on stem cells sold for vaginal rejuvenation Read More »
Even in COVID times the FDA continues its stepped-up efforts against stem cell clinics and patients are suing clinics more too, which I cover in today’s post along with recommended stem cell research pubs. One of the papers at the top of my to-read list is on 3D chromatin in stem cells. FDA Warning Letter
Weekly pubs & 2 stem cell clinics get bad news Read More »
The COVID-19 pandemic is tearing through the country right as we are starting into the holiday season, but the wheels of science including cell biology keep going and we keep reading all the great work. What news or papers caught your eye? Here are some of the things I have on my list of reading.
Weekend cell biology reads: Mesoblast COVID-19 deal, pubs Read More »
After all this time writing on The Niche here since 2010, I still haven’t entirely resolved certain blogging dilemmas including when a patient discloses something. It’s kind of a jungle out there on the internet. What kinds of tough blogging dilemmas do I face? I’m just going to give you some examples of the more common
Stem cell blogging dilemmas: patient disclosures, lawsuits, & more Read More »
Can a heart repair itself via their own stem cells and do hearts have meaningful populations of stem cells? Science evolves Sometimes what we scientists all know to be true turns out later on to be wrong and there are clear instances of this in the stem cell field. For example for decades the dogma was
Can a Heart Repair Itself Via Stem Cells Read More »
It’s fitting, given the edginess over the election, that Halloween is falling only a few days before election day so here is a list of recommended stem cell reads for you to dive into some biomedical science. Liver buds from stem cells Generation of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived liver buds with chemically defined and
Stem cell reads: liver buds, MSCs, SMARC, more Read More »
Last week I wrote a long post detailing the troubling multimillion-dollar reverberations between the Duke Autism Center and a for-profit stem cell clinic. The clinic in Panama is The Stem Cell Institute. The potential entanglements raise a bunch of questions and concerns. They center on questionable, unproven autism “treatments”. In Duke’s case, their own clinical
More Duke Autism Center backstory: stem cell ‘magic’ & money Read More »
IPS cell research is a growing area of promise for regenerative medicine. These stem cells, also known as iPSCs or more formally as Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, are engineered cells that are programmed to function the same way as embryonic stem cells. They can be differentiated into possibly any type of cell that is needed for
Overview of IPS cell prospects for clinical impact Read More »
Maybe we can use science as an escape from politics during the last week or so before the election? I hope so. Here are my weekly recommended reads. Several papers ended up relating to nucleus, cell and embryo size and space as well as chromatin, which is very interesting. Cell and chromatin biology pubs, media
Weekly science reads: CRISPR, stem cells, cell size & space, more Read More »