What could go wrong with celebrities desperately hunting for stem cells as a fountain of youth? A flaskful of problems. Some famous folks can’t seem to get enough of stem cells, even if those supposed therapies are unproven and risky. In recent years, dozens of celebs have gotten stem cell procedures of various kinds. The […]
Desperately seeking stem cells: celeb quests for elixirs often mislead Read More »
Toward the end of each year, I make stem cell & regenerative medicine predictions for the coming year. It’s a fun tradition here on The Niche that goes way back. The stem cell field has changed dramatically as reflected in each year’s predictions. Here’s a list of past predictions with my grades of how they
2023 stem cell & regenerative medicine predictions Read More »
Stem cell stroke therapy research has generated buzz over the years. The goal of today’s post is to fact-check claims about supposed stem cell stroke therapies and educate readers on where clinical research stands. There is some real hope here in the long run, but things have been greatly exaggerated at times. Some clinics are
Fact-checking stem cell stroke therapy: hope but not there yet Read More »
Imagine writing or editing an article for the WaPo about risky, unproven medical interventions for COVID that desperate patients might consider. Then you link directly to the websites selling this stuff in your article. What the heck? WaPo links to risky long COVID “treatments” By linking, you not only are driving customers to these firms,
Weekend reads: WaPo blows it on COVID, paper-mill detector, adult pluripotent stem cells Read More »
Hematopoietic stem cells have many clinical applications and a company called Gamida Cell has an interesting product in this area called Omidubicel that may have several applications. I’m going to start the weekly reads with news there. Gamida Cell and the FDA A recent piece discussed how Omidubicel is progressing with the FDA. FDA extends
Weekly reads: Gamida Cell, Siddhartha Mukherjee, CRISPR in viruses Read More »
I hadn’t remembered the history of the philosopher’s stone until reading a new review article about stem cells and aging. Here’s the article. Is the philosopher’s stone to rejuvenate blood stem cells an epigenetic regulator? Nature Aging. This preview kind of piece discusses how inhibiting a specific factor called PHF6 can “rejuvenate” HSCs in mice.
Stem cells & the philosopher’s stone, P53, thyroid organoids Read More »
What are examples of unipotent and multipotent stem cells? More broadly, stem cells have the ability to do two key things. They can make more of themselves through a process called self-renewal. Also, they have the ability to differentiate into other cell types. This latter property is called potency. Taken together this means by definition
Clinical utility & examples of unipotent vs. multipotent stem cells Read More »
As both a scientist who works on stem cells, cancer, and CRISPR, and a research advocate I’ve been fortunate to meet many patient advocates over the years. Some have been participants in clinical trials themselves. Benefits & risks of clinical trial participation It is very sobering to find out that a clinical trial participant has
Weekly reads: death in CRISPR trial, sickle cell, nose picking & dementia, epilepsy Read More »
The FDA has finally filed an appeal of the Cell Surgical Network lawsuit verdict. It took them a very long time for some reason. The stem cell clinic chain Cell Surgical Network and other defendants had prevailed in a federal district court here in California in front of Judge Jesus Bernal. Their adipose cell product, stromal
FDA appeals Cell Surgical Network lawsuit verdict Read More »
If you’ve never heard of the KRAS G12C mutation, it’s a particularly frightening mutation present in numerous cancers. Like the MYC oncogene, many people view mutations in RAS as undruggable, but new efforts show some glimmers of hope. The drug Sotorasib has been approved by the FDA to target the KRAS G12C mutation. Here’s a
Weekly reads: KRAS G12C, eLife journal controversy, bird iPSCs Read More »