We’ll begin this week’s recommended reads with some news on two wonderful stem cell scientists. While there are thousands of stem cell scientists, some stand out for their especially creative work. News on stem cell scientists Nobel laureate Yamanaka to retire as director of iPS cell center, Asahi Shimbun. Dr. Yamanaka will spend more time […]
Recommended reads: stem cell scientists, eggs from blood, Cryo-Cell Read More »
A type of human cells used in research called HEK cells or 293s has been much in the news lately. This is mainly related to COVID-19 vaccine research. There seem to be many misunderstandings about 293 cells. For that reason, I thought I’d do this post to clear things up. I’ve been working with these
Explainer on 293 or HEK cells and their use in COVID vaccine research Read More »
A clever idea to try to use AI to make cellular machines has produced something being called xenobots. However, the research is getting overblown in some ways. What does this have to do with Zambonis? Read on. What are xenobots? A xenobot is supposed to be a cellular robot made from frog stem cells. The robot part
Xenobots, Zambonis, and cellular hype Read More »
Any day now we should get the verdict from the judge in the big stem cell clinic case here in California against Cell Surgical Network, et al. It seems that the FDA is waiting on this verdict before taking some major actions. If the judge rules against the agency it could throw the area into
Weekly stem cell reads: pending FDA verdict, blood vessels, RA Read More »
Last week we lost Meri Firpo, a great scientist and dear friend in the stem cell community who touched many lives in positive ways. Today’s post is a tribute to Meri, who passed away from breast cancer. If you want to add a tribute please add a comment. Meri Firpo short bio Meri received her
Tribute to pioneering stem cell scientist Meri Firpo Read More »
The stem cell field lost a great scientist and friend this week with the passing of Meri Firpo from metastatic breast cancer. I’m going to post a tribute to Meri from several of us sometime this coming week. I’m in a bit of a somber mood but still trying to write, read, and do all
Weekly stem cell reads: COVID, tail regeneration, aging Read More »
What are possible stem cell therapy side effects? This is a common question I get asked. Most often it is asked by patients who reach out. They usually refer to risks at unproven stem cell clinics Check out the YouTube video below on our stem cell channel including my video on stem cell therapy side
Stem cell therapy side effects & risks: infections, tumors & more Read More »
This blog is called The Niche so publications on the stem cell niche often catch my eye even if that’s not something my own lab directly works on much. So today’s recommended reads will start with two papers on the stem cell niche. The first one focused on the niche gone wrong. The stem cell
Recommend reads: stem cell niche, Georgia & FTC on clinics, more Read More »
Sometimes a paper really catches your eye like a new Cell Stem Cell pub reporting eye-like structures grown on brain organoids. The paper is Human brain organoids assemble functionally integrated bilateral optic vesicles. Let’s take a quick look at this paper, its context, and the potential big-picture implications. Brain organoids with “eyes”? At first glance,
A look at “eyes on the brain organoids” Cell Stem Cell paper Read More »
One of my main interests is the relationship between stem cells and cancer as well as what makes cancer stem cells tick. This week I’ve chosen to highlight articles on the role of stem cells in cancer plus other interesting publications. Cancer pubs related to stem cells including on cancer stem cells Identification of cancer-related
Weekly reads including MSCs & cancer stem cells Read More »