Search Results for: crispr

Why gene and stem cell doping at the Olympics is banned but likely happening

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Stem cell doping, Stem cell doping Olympics

Could there be stem cell doping or gene doping at the ongoing Paris Olympics right now? I’ve wondered about such things happening throughout several past Olympics. In fact, I asked this kind of question 12 years ago. Authorities are taking such possibilities even more seriously. What would stem cell doping mean? How could cells or […]

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Weekly reads: diabetes, GvHD, Novo Nordisk & regenerative medicine, HDACs

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mesenchymal cells

Do many in the regenerative medicine field have favorite types of stem cells? Some seem to think there’s a tension between those working on pluripotent stem cells like iPS cells and those working with MSCs. I don’t see it that way, though. Whatever stem cells work best for a particular condition should be used and,

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Is Liz Parrish the world’s most genetically modified person? Why it might not be such a good thing

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Liz Parrish, BioViva

Some recent claims had me wondering whether Liz Parrish is the world’s most genetically modified person. She and her firm BioViva are making that claim. It’s an important question but maybe not for the reason many of us first might think. This is not really about one person. Instead, this is a weighty question because

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Weekly reads: Vertex, stem cells for MS, Athersys, 900-day paper review at Nature

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“While still early, these results support the continued progression of our VX-880 clinical studies, as well as future studies using our encapsulated islet cells, which hold the potential to be used without the need for immunosuppression,” said Bastiano Sanna, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief of cell and genetic therapies at Vertex.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a lot going for it right now on the cell therapy front. For instance, they have the strongest type 1 diabetes cell therapy pipeline after some recent acquisitions. Still it’s not a simple matter to succeed in the cell therapy space even with one therapy for one targeted disease. Trials are tough

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Weekly reads: brain aging, perinatal stem cell clinics, $1M lab meat fine bill

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brain aging

What happens during brain aging and how can we tell if dementia is coming? Are there particular early hallmarks? There are an increasing number of medical tests for predicting or detecting dementia. Alzheimer’s disease can often be detected early. But what do patients or their doctors do with such information? Until recently there weren’t any

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Dishing on biobots like xenobots & anthrobots vs. organoids

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Anthrobots

If you remember xenobots, mobile clusters of frog cells, now you might be interested to learn that some of the same team brings us human cell clusters called anthrobots. Both frog and human cellular clusters are considered types of biobots or robots made of cells. To me, anthrobots seem akin to human organoids or assembloids.

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20 stem cell & regenerative medicine predictions for 2024

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Stem cell, crystal ball, predictions

Each year I make predictions for the stem cell and regenerative medicine field for the following year. Today’s prediction post is focused on what to expect in 2024. You can also see my stem cell predictions for 2023 and my grades on how I did. I also have made a video version of these predictions so please

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New Year’s reads: having a blastema, gene therapy cost, pathogen lab escape data

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blastema

Years ago I wrote about how I wished humans could form a blastema, which is a special area of regeneration near an injury that drives tissue replacement. For example, when a lizard loses its tail to a pursuing bobcat, if it can regrow a new one that process will depend on a blastema. The same goes

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2023 stem cell predictions grades reflect wild year for regenerative medicine

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stem cell predictions

Every year I make stem cell and regenerative medicine predictions. Looking at my predictions for 2023, they reflect a wild year but in many ways a good one overall. Below I have graded my 2023 predictions. Overall, my crystal ball gave solid results. Some of the predictions have been condensed to keep things concise, but you

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Holiday reads: woolly dog vs. mammoth, man eggs, designer B-cells, bluebird bio blues

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woolly dog

What is a woolly dog? Is it somehow related to the Woolly Mammoth? Before we get into that and the rest of my recommended reads, note that I’m finalizing my list of contenders for this year’s The Screamers Science Hype Awards. Last year The BBC won The Screamers for an article “Baby’s life ‘probably saved’

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