I’ve met people who are excited about using stem cells for Parkinson’s Disease. Some of these folks have Parkinson’s or are loved ones. Talking to them makes things real. It feel personal and not just scientific. The current treatment options are far away from what is needed for many people. I am optimistic that a […]
Weekly reads: Parkinson’s & the gut, sports, cat stem cells Read More »
How is research looking on stem cells for diabetes? I’m feeling more encouraged about the clinical research in that area. Before we jump into that let’s talk about two other things. The big news of the week was the felony plea deal by Liveyon’s John Kosolcharoen to charges related to marketing an unapproved cell therapy
Even for a stem cell research wonk like me the broader regenerative arena never ceases to surprise me with the latest thing being stem cell shampoo. Stem cell shampoo A news item that seems promotional discussed the stem cell shampoo as yielding positive results. So after you are done with your vampire facelift, stem cell
Weekly reads: stem cell shampoo, Neobiosis FDA warning, trogocytosis Read More »
Do many in the regenerative medicine field have favorite types of stem cells? Some seem to think there’s a tension between those working on pluripotent stem cells like iPS cells and those working with MSCs. I don’t see it that way, though. Whatever stem cells work best for a particular condition should be used and,
Weekly reads: diabetes, GvHD, Novo Nordisk & regenerative medicine, HDACs Read More »
When a vendor of important reagents like antibody supplier Abcam charges big money, those high Abcam prices could negatively impact research in the long run. Some of the prices are so high that buying just a few antibodies could take up a small but meaningful slice of an entire R01 grant. Sky-high Abcam prices I’ve
Weekly reads: abundant Abcam prices, speedy aging & cancer, stemmy CAR-T, more on STAP Read More »
What is immune rejuvenation? How would that work and what would be the benefits? As we age, our immune systems can change in unhelpful and unhealthy ways. One such change is a drift in the balance of production of different kinds of immune cells. Such a shift can lead to too many of some immune
My lab is focused in part on chromatin states in stem cells and cancer including heterochromatin. In fact, my lab’s website is chromatin.com. Heterochromatin is dense, often inactive chromatin. By H&E staining and electron microscopy, heterochromatin looks dark compared to the rest of the nucleus, largely composed of euchromatin. Toward the end of my postdoc
Weekly reads: heterochromatin, H3.3, Mesoblast bump Read More »
So many things go wrong during the lead up to clinically-evident Alzheimer’s disease. This complex disease pathway has, in turn, led to a vast array of approaches to try to treat or prevent Alzheimer’s. Most of these efforts one way or another have something to do with the amyloid plaques and tangles that accumulate in the
Last week one of the most popular stories was about a preprint from a mammoth de-extinction research group led by George Church having made elephant stem cells. I finally got a chance to look carefully at their preprint. Elephant stem cells preprint and mammoth de-extinction The elephant stem cells preprint has solid data. It looks like
Weekly reads: elephant stem cells, RIP Connie Eaves, AI cell biology Read More »
Anti-aging might already be the big regenerative medicine story of 2024 and it’s only early March. Anti-aging hype going to the dogs? One of my 20 stem cell and regenerative medicine predictions for 2024 was that longevity would continue to make big news including in some not-so-great ways. In just over two months there has