A new word has been added to the lexicon of human stem cell research – blastoids, aka “blastocyst-like structures.” Unlike the familiar three-layered embryo that emerges during the third week of prenatal development, the earlier blastocyst resembles a fluid-filled soccer ball, with a smear of cells on the interior face destined to develop into the […]
New lab-grown blastoids are strikingly similar to human embryos Read More »
What are the current FDA Approved Cell and Gene Therapies? In the past many of us have wished there was a list of FDA-approved stem cell therapies. Patients and fellow scientists often asked me, but I couldn’t find a list. As a result, I made a comprehensive list of FDA Approved Cell and Gene Therapies,
List of FDA Approved Cell and Gene Therapies Read More »
What should we make of clinics like the Lung Health Institute? These clinics sell unproven stem cell or regenerative therapies for lung disease. Overall, I’m extremely skeptical. I don’t believe it’s worth the cost. There are also going to be potentially serious health risks. Lung disease is a broad category including COPD, emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis,
Fact check: Lung Health Institute & cell therapies for lung disease Read More »
Sometimes change takes a very long time, but with brain organoids or advocating for better information for patients at Clinicaltrials.gov, after waiting you can see some interesting developments. These are two of the regenerative medicine stories of the week, along with some striking research papers. Clinicaltrials.gov Some of us have been advocating for improvements at
Regenerative reads: brain organoids, Clinicaltrials.gov change Read More »
Recently I was going through a list I’m updating of regenerative medicine biotech companies including Bluebird bio. Now just a few days later the world seems turned upside down for the firm and maybe to some degree for other companies doing related work. Bluebird bio blues: 2 trial participants get cancer News broke today that
Bluebird bio sickle cell gene therapy trial halted on cancer worry Read More »
Organoids and especially brain organoids, which are made from pluripotent stem cells, are one of the most interesting developmental biology technologies of the last half a dozen or so years. Still some folks can’t help but get carried away when thinking about brain organoids it seems. A new Science paper from a team led by
Dissecting that Neanderthal brain organoids Science pub Read More »
Here are my recommended weekly reads for The Niche readership for early February 2021 including COVID-19 and stem cell lawsuit updates, papers, and more. How many papers do you end up reading each week or month these days? More or less than before the pandemic? COVID-19 updates New diabetes cases linked to covid-19, WaPo ICYMI
The Niche reads: COVID, new INDs, clinic suits, papers Read More »
How much does platelet rich plasma or PRP injection cost? We might start by first talking about how to define PRP. PRP is an extract from blood enriched for platelet growth factors. There are many ways of making PRP and products are very heterogeneous. Some preps may contain actual platelets or fragments of platelets. These
How much does platelet rich plasma or PRP injection cost? Is it a good option? Read More »
During the week as I’m doing other stuff I keep my eyes open for interesting things to read, including over the weekend about stem cell research, COVID, CRISPR, and more for The Niche weekly recommended reads. This week a lot was going as we updated The Niche site to our new theme and format. I
Recommended reads: jobs, FDA letter, & The Niche new look Read More »
Sometimes it seems like a theme spontaneously emerges in pubs that I want to read for a given week like the set of single-cell analysis papers but there are diverse, other items including a striking day-night brain stem cell cycle paper and an interesting piece on identical twins who got COVID. What are you reading
Recommended reads: Single-cell work, COVID twin study, more Read More »