This has been one of those weeks where I spent some time thinking about taking risks in science. How much risk one should take? Risks can come in many forms. It could be at the core level at the bench doing specific experiments and not others. There’s risk in clinical trials, and even in advocacy. Sometimes […]
Weekly science reads: Macchiarini trial, somites, CRISPR babies Read More »
Many firms that generally fall into the category of unproven stem cell or cell therapy clinics have a way of reinventing themselves and I’ve seen this with one formerly named the Lung Institute that is now called Centers for Respiratory Health. First the Lung Institute became the Lung Health Institute. Now that firm has become
Centers for Respiratory Health is new incarnation of clinic Lung Health Institute Read More »
I’m fascinated by the idea of making food from cells grown in a lab and especially the newest idea of lab-grown chocolate. While lab-grown meat has gotten the most attention, (see my recent post on test-tube meat: Not Old MacDonald’s Farm: is the future lab-grown meat?) I’d say that the coolest application of making food from
Biotech California Cultured aims to sell lab-grown chocolate Read More »
What exactly is a mesenchymal cell and what does the acronym MSC stand for these days? I took a stab recently at discussing mesenchymal cells and the MSC acronym so check that out. There is a great need for standards on MSCs and the products out there being marketed as MSCs are probably in reality
Weekly reads: MSC, p53, EuroGCT, fake fish, K27M CAR-T Read More »
Sometimes it’s useful to ask questions like, “How many stem cells are in the human body?” As we try to answer them we end up going through key aspects of cell biology and stem cell identity more generally. How many stem cells in the human body? It might seem like possibly an easy question at
How many stem cells do we have & can you run out? Read More »
One of the most interesting parts of running a website like The Niche is that reader’s questions can sometimes be so striking including recent ones on human cloning. They got me thinking about cloning again. Human cloning & loss of a loved one: things to consider Several readers have recently asked about whether human cloning
If you lost a loved one, could you turn to human cloning? Read More »
When I read about Elizabeth Holmes and her blood testing startup Theranos I see parallels to hucksters in the arena of stem cells and cell therapy. I’m thinking especially of the unproven stem cell clinics out there. It goes farther than that though too, including people who aren’t hucksters at all but get caught up
Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos, & lessons for the stem cell field Read More »
What if you could get 8-year grants to do whatever biomedical research you wanted? This sounds like a dream for many of us in the life sciences, but the first news item this week is all about such a potential new funding approach. The item especially caught my eye as I’m going to be doing
Weekly reads: hydra heads, iblastoids, new 8-year grants Read More »
I’d say the paper of the week is on how PRC2 mediated H3K27me3 can in some sense replace elements of DNA methylation to repress. Very cool. Here it is: Sex-specific chromatin remodelling safeguards transcription in germ cells, Nature. Weird stuff In a merger of opposites, City of Hope to buy Cancer Treatment Centers of America
Weekly reads: PRC2, 2 weird bits of news, pubs, COVID stem cell hype Read More »
There are so many stem cell clinics out there that it can be hard to keep track of them and the news about them, but a big court victory against a Manhattan stem cell clinic by New York State Attorney General Letitia James is notable for several reasons. Injunction on Park Avenue Stem Cell clinic
New York wins $5.1 million in suit against Manhattan stem cell clinic Read More »