A new article by Honor Whiteman in Medical News Today (MNT) on a Mexico stem cell clinic really takes the prize so far in 2016 amongst media pieces that engage in stem cell hype. Update; Many on Twitter are calling for retraction of this MNT article. The MNT article entitled “Stem cell therapy: is the US […]
Medical News Today article reads like an ad for Mexico stem cell clinic Read More »
The FDA has sent a Warning Letter to the Irvine Stem Cell Treatment Center. The leader of Irvine Stem Cell Treatment Center is Dr. Thomas Gionis and the letter was addressed to him. Interestingly, this letter, dated December 30, 2015, contains redactions. At one time this clinic was part of the larger Cell Surgical Network (CSN)
FDA Warning Letter to Irvine Stem Cell Treatment Center Clinics Across US Read More »
Both before and particularly now after the big human gene editing summit in Washington, D.C. at the National Academy of Sciences, I’ve talked with patients about their views on this new technology including at last week’s World Stem Cell Summit. One of the most striking moments of the DC summit was when the mother of
Just freakin do it: patients voice impatience on CRISPR for genetic diseases Read More »
By Heather Main I was a little ashamed of myself that I didn’t know who half of the finalists were in Paul Knoepfler’s Stem Cell Person of the Year Award. I decided to look into it and find out what (or who) I have missed…..Interestingly, 3 of the 7 listed here are not scientists but
Mini-bios on finalists for Stem Cell Person of the Year Read More »
Below is a conversation with bioethics commentator Kelly Hills (who BTW has a great blog), tackling some of the key issues surrounding the potential use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to make heritable human genetic modification. I really appreciate her clear and insightful answers to some tough questions that many are grappling with today on this topic. Part
Kelly Hills interview: human genetic modification & bioethics Read More »
The publicly available medical literature database PubMed can be found here. I recommend if you are doing a search for a stem cell paper on a disease of you interest that you plug into the search box the following: stem cells[title] AND XXXX In this case delete XXXX and put in the name of the
Search for a paper Read More »
One of the many interesting ways in which “stem cells” are named in different languages around the world is “mother cells”. For example, in Spanish, you can learn more about these “mother cells” here in ¿Qué son las células madre? On Mother’s Day it is worth thinking about where the stem cell field stands at this
Stem cells on Mother’s Day, clinical trials, and more Read More »
Over the years I’ve often written about how unlicensed stem cell clinics and their physicians are putting patients at risk. In most if not all cases they are doing this simply for their own personal monetary gain. I do think that some of them truly believe they are helping patients, but still that doesn’t excuse
10 ways non-compliant stem cell clinic docs jeopardize their careers Read More »
The Niche is the top, most authoritative stem cell and regenerative medicine blog on the web and the only one to our knowledge written by a professor. It is mainly written by Professor Paul Knoepfler of UC Davis School of Medicine, an internationally respected stem cell biologist and educator. Knoepfler is an advocate of rigorous
About Us, The Niche and Knoepfler Lab Read More »
Lately on average patients or patient relatives contact me about stem cells more than once a week. That’s about 50 times a year. The patients or their parents have questions about stem cells most often. Sometimes they have comments about this blog. Other times they ask for medical advice from me. Because I am a
Contemplating patients contacting me about stem cells Read More »