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 »
Part of being a grad student is dealing with technologies related to your projects and their limitations. Sometimes I feel old when I remember the way we used to have to do things in the lab. As a grad student, I manually poured, ran, and read giant sequencing gels. Back then, gene synthesis of a
Weekly reads: grad student life, cell barcoding, diabetes trial, more Read More »
I’ve been concerned that the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine has been publishing some iffy papers from unproven stem cell clinics recently including from a Panama stem cell clinic called the Stem Cell Institute. Back in 2019, I took the unusual step of raising the question of whether a Stem Cells Translational Medicine paper from Neil Riordan,
Questions remain after Stem Cells Translational Medicine retracts clinic pub Read More »
One of the core problems in the world of unproven stem cell clinics is something called therapeutic misconception. I’ll talk more about that in a minute, but first, let me tell you what brought this to mind now. Surprisingly, the story starts at Duke University. A Duke cell therapy team and the biotech Cryo-Cell have big
Therapeutic misconception & the planned Duke Cryo-Cell cord clinic Read More »
As many of you know I am a cancer survivor myself so studying cancer stem cells has meaning for me on another level. Cancer is also the possible side effect most patients worry about when considering going to an unproven stem cell clinic. I’ve got a new video up on possible stem cell side effects
Weekly reads: cancer stem cells, Bik, & more Read More »
When I first learned about the multi-$10 million cord cell clinic deal between Duke and Cryo-Cell I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Duke’s involved in this? The problem: marketing unproven cells for kids Yes, this wasn’t some stem cell clinic operating out of a strip mall seeking to make big money off of injecting
Vice tackles dicey Cryo-Cell Duke mega-million peds clinic plan 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 »
It’s great when an idea like stem cells for osteoporosis just makes so much common sense, but it still requires data. A logical hypothesis is not enough. The point of today’s post is to fact-check the idea of using stem cells for such bone loss. A femur to stand on? Unfortunately, the take-home message is
Boning up on stem cells for osteoporosis: good idea, little data so far Read More »
I recently found concerning SEC filings from the biotech Cryo-Cell about a deal it has with a Duke team for infusions of children with unproven umbilical cord cells. This turns out to be a $58 million deal. It relates in a major way to a Duke compassionate use or expanded access program (EAP) that already had raised
FDA should freeze Duke EAP & probe $58 million Cryo-Cell deal linked to it 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 »