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In historic step, FDA & DOJ seek injunctions on 2 key unproven stem cell clinic firms

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Kristin-Comella1

The DOJ and FDA are seeking permanent injunctions in federal court against two of the most widespread and influential of the for-profit, unproven stem cell clinic firms in the U.S. This story is breaking so I’ll have more later this week. The take home is that I see this action as a positive, probably historic turning point […]

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Stem cell clinic experimenting on patients with unapproved genetically modified ‘cancer vaccine’?

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USRM-stem-cell-meeting-video

What if it seemed based on the public statements of its leader that a business was using an unapproved and unproven, genetically-modified, stem cell-based ‘cancer vaccine’ on patients? Is that possible? Sometimes I think I’ve seen and heard it all when it comes to companies marketing non-FDA approved, scientifically unproven stem cell ‘therapies’ to patients

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Highlights FOGM18 Day 1: Data from Ancient Dirt, Genomics Dilemmas, CAR-T, CRISPR

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FOGM-venue-Scripps-Seaside-Forum

There are many genomics meetings out there these days, but The Future of Genomic Medicine meeting (#FOGM18) at Scripps in La Jolla is one of my favorites. This meeting is uniquely empowering. The people and the talks combine for a one-of-a-kind experience. The venue doesn’t hurt either at the Scripps Seaside Forum. The evening before the meeting

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Is monkey cloning a breakthrough or a bad idea?

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Monkey-clones

Is monkey cloning a good idea? We’re about to find out. A new Cell paper today reports the first cloning of monkeys via somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), raising many questions. The paper from a team led by Qiang Sun is entitled, “Cloning of Macaque Monkeys by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer.” The highlight bullet points

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Hope & hype on unpublished Huntington’s Disease trial splashy news

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Huntingtons-brain-MRI

Some conditions like Huntington’s Disease are so bad and there are no treatments such that any bit of encouraging news can be cause for legitimate excitement, but at the same time things can go too far potentially, especially if there is news coverage not backed up by a published paper or some other definitive source

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7 tech hurdles to human germline CRISPR

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Human-crispr-challenges

Human germline CRISPR raises major bioethical considerations, but what about technical issues? Setting aside the many ethical issue about the general idea of human modification itself, could this really work? Yes in theory it could, but there are some very tough technological challenges that could and likely would cause failures or unacceptable outcomes at many steps

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Countering that Pro-Heritable Human CRISPR WSJ Piece

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human-embryo-modification

It’s germline, heritable human CRISPR time, right? Wrong. But the particularly enthusiastic supporters of heritable human CRISPR often cite hypothetical benefits in glowing terms, but either don’t mention risks or strongly downplay them. These fans also tend to leave alternative, proven and safe technologies such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) out of the discussion or

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4 key reasons Mitalipov paper doesn’t herald safe CRISPR human genetic modification

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CRISPR-dart-board

We can be confident that human genetic modification via CRISPR’ing of embryos soon will be safe and effective after that new exciting Mitalipov team paper, right? Wrong. The reality is far more complicated and interesting on the tech side. In a nutshell, I see the paper as a significant scientific, but not necessarily medical advance.

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