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 »
A piece on human tails and how we lost them caught my eye so I’ll start my weekly reads with that. This week I had the fewest Zoom meetings in ages, which allowed me to get more work done in my own lab and more reading. How about that? I even had some in-person meetings
Recommended reads: a tale of human tails, heart reprogramming, pericytes, microglia Read More »
I’ve been following the research related to human cloning now for more than a decade. Is human cloning more possible at this point? How do we even define such cloning? Did you know there are two types? The goal of this post is to educate you and in the process answer such questions. What’s in
Human cloning is more likely now but would you take the big risks? Read More »
Although in my years as a stem cell biologist I haven’t yet been in a leadership role at the International Society for Stem Cell Research or ISSCR, unproven stem cell clinics have claimed that I somehow speak for ISSCR. I am just a standard member of the group like thousands of other researchers. In fact,
Recommended reads: ISSCR guidelines pushback, TB outbreak from regen product, pubs Read More »
Professor Joanne Kurtzberg’s clinical work at the Duke Autism Center on umbilical cord blood for autism and cerebral palsy (CP) involves a partnership with a publicly-traded cord blood banking firm called Cryo-Cell. Kurtzberg is also the Medical Director at the firm. In addition they have intellectual property in this area. The Duke team’s efforts, including
Duke & Cryo-Cell plan big clinic for unproven infusions of kids Read More »