My to-read list this weekend includes a range of papers along with various news & media including a report of two US research groups aiming to get CRISPR baby patents. More on that below. At long last a trip + fun thing to do in NYC Last week I took my first trip in more […]
Weekly reads: escape to New York, CRISPR baby patents, ISSCR guidelines, pubs Read More »
Something called the 14-day rule on growing human embryos in the lab helped keep a tough question in check for a long time: when is it ethically wrong or just practically unwise to continue growing a human embryo for research? There is no good answer based on science or anything else. ISSCR moves beyond strict
Risks rise as ISSCR drops strict 14-day rule on human embryo growth in the lab Read More »
Sometimes things in the stem cell world get complicated and this week is no exception with news of Orchard Therapeutics dropping a seemingly life-saving clinical trial. There are hundreds of kids who could possibly benefit. Rotten apple decision from Orchard Therapeutics From David Jensen at California Stem Cell Report we have something of a scoop:
Weekly reads: Orchard punts on life-saving SCID trial, cardioids with cavities, more 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
It was a couple of years back that researcher He Jiankui claimed he made three “CRISPR babies.” No one would think about doing any kind of rogue gene-editing again, right? Not even somatic gene edits. After all, as far as we know he’s in jail. We still don’t know the health risks that these three
Ukraine clinic plans to sell CRISPR enhancements: hair color, skin, & breast size Read More »
If you were to see the phrase ‘Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product’ (ATMP) you might guess, ‘an advanced treatment that is a medicine?’ but you will not get much more from this without doing a lot more homework. What is an ‘Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product’ or ATMP? Whoever decided that cell and gene therapy products should
Cell and gene therapy products: what is an ATMP? Read More »
A new Cell paper from an international team led by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte pushes human embryo chimera embryo research further than ever before. It is both exciting work and raises many complex bioethics questions at the same time. What is a human embryo chimera? By way of background, chimeric human embryos contain a mixture
Monkey human embryo chimera Cell paper: exciting, ethically complex direction Read More »
In the stem cell world some corporate names end up being very similar with the latest example being several companies with the name “BioLife.” Get a BioLife…name I guess BioLife is a catchy term. You’ve got life and biology in there in one name. Let’s deconstruct what’s going on out there with this corporate name.
Perspectives on BioLife: one name, distinct companies Read More »
I managed to escape to do some hiking along the coast so I’m behind on my weekly reading and I’m just getting back here on The Niche. Here are some articles I’m hoping to catch up on in coming days including an interesting overview of stem cells for tooth repair. I sometimes have a wistful
Weekly The Niche Reads: tooth repair, PRC2, beach pics Read More »
There are many ways to classify different stem cells. These differences include yours versus someone else’s cells. Another distinct in a clinical sense is what we call an autologous vs allogeneic stem cell transplant. This post is focused on the difference between allogeneic (someone else’s cells) and autologous (your own) stem cell injections. As a
Autologous vs allogeneic: all you need to know on therapy Read More »