Paolo Macchiarini is one of a small group of people in the stem cell universe whose misconduct has blown up in the press. Piero Anversa, Haruko Obokata, Hwang Woo-Suk, and some operators in the unproven stem cell clinic sphere come to mind. Macchiarini published quite a few seriously problematic papers, some of which just hung […]
Weekly reads: late Macchiarini retractions, stem cells & Lululemon Read More »
There’s been much discussion about issues related to stem cells in the reproductive space such as human embryo models and differentiating stem cells into gametes, but there’s also interest in stem cell-assisted IVF. In this kind of method, stem cells are employed to make tissue cells such as ovarian stromal cells to support production of
Weekly reads: stem cell-assisted IVF, Takeda MSC trial, reporters getting stem cells Read More »
Most of us have heard of organoids but what about the related model called an “assembloid”, which is a term growing in use including from organoid researcher Sergiu Pasca of Stanford? Before we jump into that, be sure to enter The Niche stem cell image contest for your chance to win $100 or some swag.
Once every year or two here on The Niche I run contests for best pictures or videos. Today’s new contest is for the best stem cell research pictures. Most often what people send in as entries are microscopy images, but you can use your imagination. Today is a fitting day to launch the contest as
The Niche 2023 stem cell picture contest: $100 or swag Read More »
People often ask me what are the most promising stem cell therapies in development and new data suggest we should add stem cells for epilepsy to the list based on work by Neurona Therapeutics. I’ll start off the weekly recommended reads with this new mouse paper on cell therapy for epilepsy. Neurona Therapeutics: stem cells
I’ve been following 24 stem cell stocks for a few years. I haven’t invested in them or any others recently, but rather just find them interesting. How are these doing in 2023? Mostly not great. In some cases, it is downright disastrous. Let’s take a quick look at four stocks very much in the news over
Many of us first became aware of Vivek Ramaswamy as a Republican candidate for President. He was most well-known before that as a biotech leader. Given that biotech background, I decided to learn more about him. Surprisingly, his biomedical efforts may have started with embryonic stem cells. That caught my attention. This was way back
Vivek Ramaswamy & his surprising stem cell start Read More »
Australian biotech Mesoblast has had a rollercoaster ride working toward FDA approval of its mesenchymal cell therapy product remestemcel-L. They are seeking approval for use in patients with graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). More specifically, it is intended for pediatric patients with steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease, or SR-aGVHD. This is a serious condition and new treatment
Hoping for approval, Mesoblast says FDA wants new remestemcel-L trial Read More »
It’s great finding stem cell videos on YouTube that are either excellent research talks or provide important information. I recently found one such video by Shiri Gur-Cohen, which I included below. Interesting data there and Shiri is such a compelling speaker. She also won The Niche image contest one year with a cool microscopy pic
Weekly stem cell reads: Google Bard AI issues, fat ball reprogramming, BrainStorm on ALS Read More »
From the beginning of the pandemic, I have been mostly skeptical about the idea of cell therapy for COVID including stem cell therapies. However, at the same time, I’ve closely followed the data, especially up until 2022. Now having just had a nasty bout with COVID myself for the first time this summer, I recently
Update on stem cells & cell therapy for COVID trials Read More »