When I first heard of CRISPR gene editing I was excited for my lab to try it out, but it seemed a long way from the field having even one CRISPR therapy available to treat human disease. In the Knoepfler lab, we study genetic and genomic programming in human development and disease. Gene editing seemed …
Updates on CRISPR therapy development and clinical trials Read More »
The FDA has finally filed an appeal of the Cell Surgical Network lawsuit verdict. It took them a very long time for some reason. The stem cell clinic chain Cell Surgical Network and other defendants had prevailed in a federal district court here in California in front of Judge Jesus Bernal. Their adipose cell product, stromal …
FDA appeals Cell Surgical Network lawsuit verdict Read More »
It’s always great to read about stem cell clinical trials that are looking encouraging. Stem cell clinical trials Proving a new therapy is safe and effective is so challenging. Remarkably, there are more than 9,300 stem cell clinical trials listed for a “stem cell” search on Clinicaltrials.gov. Of course, not all of these are actual …
A new stem cells for ALS treatment trial represents a big step forward. It’s early days still but this trial shows feasibility and provides a helpful foundation for moving forward. It also highlights challenges. The work is from a team led by Clive Svendsen. Stem cells for ALS treatment trial Here’s the study. Transplantation of …
Cloning is one of those topics that both fascinates and kind of scares people, especially the idea of duplicating people. I regularly cover the topic here on The Niche because stem cell technologies are involved. Also, one form of the process sometimes called “therapeutic cloning” involves embryonic stem cells. Duplicating mammals has now long been …
Weekly reads: freeze-dried cloning, FDA signals, stem cell escapees Read More »
David Weinberg over at Science-Based Medicine has his part two of a deep dive into the so-called SCOTS trial, which is a non-traditional pay-for-play study. I highly recommend it. SCOTS trial under the magnifying glass In this piece, Weinberg provides interesting background on the two people running SCOTS. I’ve had many concerns about the SCOTS …
Recommended reads: engineered niche, ALS, SCOTS trial, human genome “done” Read More »
What if some legit place like The Mayo Clinic charged people just for the opportunity to talk to a doctor about possibly enrolling in a clinical trial? Imagine this kind of conversation. “Hey, Doc, I have this medical problem and heard you have a relevant clinical trial. Tell me about it.” Then the doctor fills …
Mayo Clinic charges patients just to talk about clinical trials? Read More »
After the COVID-19 pandemic started clinical trials quickly sprouted up to test various kinds of cell therapy for COVID-19 including stem cells. The most common rationale for this approach is to suppress damaging overactive immune responses. Trials of cell therapy for COVID-19 including stem cells I’ve written quite a lot about these cellular medicine and …
Our new paper assessing trials of cell therapy for COVID-19 Read More »
It’s always great when there’s good news in the stem cell field and a new trial of stem cells for spina bifida here at UC Davis School of Medicine is very encouraging. So I’ll lead off with this story. Stem cells for spina bifida This pioneering work is led by Drs. Diana Farmer and Aijun …
Weekly reads: stem cells for spina bifida & diabetes trials, pubs Read More »
Sometimes change takes a very long time, but with brain organoids or advocating for better information for patients at Clinicaltrials.gov, after waiting you can see some interesting developments. These are two of the regenerative medicine stories of the week, along with some striking research papers. Clinicaltrials.gov Some of us have been advocating for improvements at …
Regenerative reads: brain organoids, Clinicaltrials.gov change Read More »