The Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood Foundation recently announced that Cryo-Cell and its long-time partner, a Duke pediatric cell therapy team, have made a key change. They will begin offering infusions of unrelated, unproven cord blood to pediatric patients with cerebral palsy (CP). These are called donor infusions. Up until now, they had mainly focused […]
Joe Rogan just keeps glowing about clinics offering unproven stem cells like most recently the Cellular Performance Institute in Tijuana. Often Joe talks about his own experiences getting stem cells, but other times he refers anecdotally to others who supposedly had great experiences. While it’s not unusual for some celebrities to get stem cells at
Joe Rogan shows more love for unproven stem cells despite risks Read More »
New research on stem cell patches is exciting. However, more broadly, “stem cell patches” can mean very different things. What I’m talking about here are the types of patches that can repair holes or other problems with tissues. This is a powerful regenerative approach. In contrast, I’m not a fan of the type of stem cell
Weekly reads: stem cell patches, helicase editing, hearing loss, Astellas, Dr. No Read More »
Cord blood banker Cryo-Cell and Duke have had a long-running agreement. The potentially multi-million dollar deal has focused on the development of possible umbilical cord blood therapies for pediatric patients. A major first goal has been to open an infusion clinic, which I have been very skeptical about for various reasons. For instance, one big
Cryo-Cell alleges Duke acted “fraudulently” related to pediatric cord cell deal Read More »
Remember cryonics, the idea that you could hit pause on human life? This relies on the super-cold power of liquid nitrogen or some other ultra-freezing method. Apparently cryonics is still a thing and there are people with even just their heads frozen. A new story claims a different way to hit the pause button on
Weekly reads: hit pause on human life, CIRM pause, 23andMe data, blast from the past Read More »
Do stem cells for Long COVID make sense including for associated brain issues? Two readers of The Niche asked me this question recently. Let’s discuss it. Stem cells for Long COVID worth trying? What is Long COVID? A sizable fraction of people who get COVID-19 never fully recover. They may have symptoms like fatigue, brain
Readers’ question: do stem cells for Long COVID make sense including for brain fog? Read More »
Back in late August, Liveyon leader John Kosolcharoen pleaded to federal charges on stem cells. What was Liveyon? Liveyon was a splashy umbilical cord stem cell supplier company. I don’t know if the company is still active now. One of its core products ended up sending dozens of people to the hospital due to contamination
Liveyon made $21.6 million says DOJ; leader gets 3 years prison for stem cell activities Read More »
I’ve written before about so-called test-tube burgers and bacon and other lab grown meat. Test-tube burgers Cells like muscle and fat progenitor cells are the basis for these products. Sometimes stem cells may come into play for such “test-tube burgers” as I generally call this type of lab meat. Cost seems to be a main
Weekly reads: test-tube burgers, CRISPR for space travel, more tuft cells Read More »
The International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy or ISCT is a great organization in our field. They have launched a new guide to help healthcare providers navigate this complex area. Click on the image below to check it out. This new resource is important because healthcare providers, researchers, and the public need authoritative information.
ISCT launches new resource on unproven cell & gene therapies Read More »
People often ask me what is the most promising new cell therapy and while it is difficult to choose just one, I often highlight the promise of stem cells for diabetes. Here in the U.S., early data from diabetes clinical trials by Vertex look encouraging. Other teams worldwide are also working in this space and