I recently started 2 polls on the future of CIRM. The polls are focused on the effort led by Robert Klein to get more funding from the State of California for the stem cell agency. They asked readers about whether Californians will refund CIRM and whether Californians should refund CIRM. Basically, the polls are asking […]
Upbeat poll results on the future of CIRM funding Read More »
What’s Liveyon up to these days? A new, somewhat mysterious short film that serves as an advertisement for unproven exosomes has some of us scratching our heads. It seems to point to Liveyon. Can you guys as readers of The Niche help solve the puzzle of who’s behind this wild “cinematic commercial” and what the
Mystery of wild sci-fi film ad for unproven exosomes: Liveyon? Read More »
Today I’m doing 2 polls on the future of the California stem cell agency better known as CIRM as it hangs in the balance, awaiting the results of us California voters going to the polls in November. At that time, Californians will vote on the new proposition that would fund CIRM for $5 billion more.
$5 Billion more? 2 polls on funding CIRM again Read More »
Scientist He Jiankui(贺建奎) has been sentenced to 3 years in prison by Chinese authorities. Two collaborators also will go to jail. A piece in Science by Dennis Normile on the sentencing of He Jiankui ID’d the other two: “His collaborators were identified as Zhang Renli, of a medical institution in Guangdong province, and Qin Jinzhou, from a Shenzhen
Perspectives on CRISPR baby guy He Jiankui (贺建奎) going to jail Read More »
Masayo Takahashi is a leading stem cell researcher doing translational and clinical research on vision. She’s doing pioneering work on using pluripotent stem cells as a basis for helping patients with vision loss such as due to macular degeneration. She won The Niche’s Stem Cell Person of the Year Award in 2014 and a number
Masayo Takahashi (高橋 政代): exciting vision work advancing including with photoreceptors Read More »
Michael Le Page over at The New Scientist reports on a new paper describing the birth of monkey-piglet chimeras. Unlike most such primate embryo chimeras formed in research in the past, these were allowed to be born. A litter of ten from the new monkey-pig research, two of which were chimeras, all rather quickly died
Monkey-pig chimeras pub discouraging for similar human research toward organ transplants Read More »
Friday and Saturday showed a burst in FDA activity related to unproven stem cells and regenerative products including a warning letter to the unproven perinatal “stem cell” provider Liveyon. This was an unusual 48-hour period and a very good one for those who believe in science-based regenerative medicine but in my view a bad day
FDA spike: clinic supplier Liveyon warning letter & 483s; notice on exosome harms Read More »
Washington Post reporters William Wan and Laurie McGinley have a new piece on the unproven regenerative clinic firm the Lung Health Institute. This article has a number of surprises and new insights. Previously the Lung Health Institute was called just the Lung Institute. It was recently acquired by the publicly-traded company H-CYTE, stock symbol HCYT. In the
‘I’d need a drink’: WaPo deep dive on clinic firm Lung Health Institute Read More »
Today’s post is a review of Unnatural Selection, the new Netflix science docuseries focused on CRISPR and other disruptive genetic and reproductive technologies. The show is an interesting mix of personalities and stories from patients, scientists, biohackers, and more. One patient thread is the story of a wonderful little boy named Jackson Kennedy. He wants
Unnatural Selection review: captivating mind-bender but needed more science Read More »
ViaCyte is one of the most exciting stem cell and regenerative medicine biotech companies so I like to try to check in with them regularly. Today’s post is my new interview with ViaCyte leader Paul Laikind on recent developments. We had a great chat about the science and how things are looking upbeat for the
ViaCyte Q&A: CRISPR Tx quick progress, ongoing diabetes trial, & more Read More »