I’ve been busy recently focusing more on grant and paper writing than reading papers on stem cells, but my piece on trying to de-extinct mammoths via cloning-like methods drew strong opinions on both sides. Recent news and resources on stem cells We’re still awaiting a verdict in the big California federal court case where the FDA is […]
Weekly reads: news, legos for stem cells, FDA, cancer, more 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 »
Because of blogging here on The Niche and people giving me tips I often can see trends before they fully surface and a troubling new one is intranasal stem cell delivery by unproven clinics. Over the past year I have heard of many clinics now offering this approach. I’ve seen this in marketing and heard
Clinics turning to potentially dangerous intranasal stem cell delivery Read More »
Who doesn’t like stem cell videos? Some of you already know that we have a stem cell YouTube channel with me, Paul Knoepfler, talking about many important topics on stem cells. The point of the channel is science-based educational outreach to people all over the world. With this in mind, I’ve been thinking it’d be
Enter The Niche stem cell videos contest with $100 prize Read More »
The paper of the week is An isoform of Dicer protects mammalian stem cells against multiple RNA viruses published in Science. The take-home from the abstract is that the data, “demonstrate that mammalian stem cells can protect themselves from some RNA viruses by expressing an alternatively spliced isoform of the enzyme Dicer called aviD, which potentiates
For more than a year in my first job as a scientist I isolated cells from umbilical cord veins and then tossed the tissue away, never realizing there was more there that could be useful in the form of something called Wharton’s jelly. What’s in this article Umbilical cord histology & Wharton’s jelly | What
What is Wharton’s jelly & its possible clinical uses? Read More »
ViaCyte released encouraging data just now on a patient with implanted stem cell-derived pancreas-like device whose diabetes improved. You can read more about this in the Endpoints piece that I linked to in the previous sentence. Stem cells for diabetes; the ViaCyte update The idea of stem cells for diabetes has been more on my
Quick reaction to milestone ViaCyte data on a diabetes patient 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 »
A human embryo model is a laboratory-produced collection of living cells that has some key things in common with real human embryos. They are made from pluripotent stem cells, which include embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells. This research is both exciting and ethically complicated, raising some difficult questions. Embryo
As part of our weekly reads I’m including one of my latest videos in our Stem Cell Channel on YouTube below. This particular video fact-checks stem cell face creams, but I’ve got quite a few more including on stem cell supplements, different kinds of stem cells and more. You might guess my view of such
Weekly reads: stem cell videos, cystic fibrosis, papers Read More »