Some people consider the brain to be equivalent to a living computer and in that sense it’s too bad that computers don’t have the equal of neural stem cells to help them fix themselves. Is the internet one big neural network-like web? There was a quake in the stem cell internet as CIRM’s main website […]
Weekly reads: neural stem cells, CRISPR brain, Vertex, cytoplasm surprise Read More »
I remember the first time I ever witnessed human cell division first hand and it was really excitement. I was working as a part-time tech in the Lane Lab at UC San Diego School of Medicine. We studied heart disease and grew human umbilical cord endothelial cell cultures. It was striking to see a plate
Weekly reads: Vertex hold, new type of cell division in fish, CAR-T Read More »
It seems like the field of cell biology has mixed feelings about fibroblasts so I’m going to start off there with the recommended reads. But first, check out our stem cell YouTube channel as we are steadily heading toward 500 subscribers and 30,000 views. Please subscribe. I’ve pasted one of our top videos below, which
Weekly reads: fibroblasts, cancer stem cells, Parkinson’s Read More »
Sometimes a post here on The Niche (named after the stem cell niche) sparks a debate between expert stem cell researchers and often that gives much more depth to a topic. Such was the case with my post this week on where things stand with stem cell therapy for heart disease. It led to a
Weekly reads: Melton leaves Harvard, Fuji, BBC blunder, stem cell niche, more Read More »
It’s been quite a ride doing this blog on stem cells and other technologies for more than a dozen years. So far it seems like I’ll keep it going. A large part of the reason is because of people needing good information about our field. Those people include scientists and physicians but also many in
Weekly reads: Google, stem cells & MS, VSELs, ‘hairy’ organoids, MYC Read More »
It’s very challenging to be an academic scientist even under normal circumstances so when a government starts going after researchers for things like supposed irregularities in funding disclosures, it can cause serious problems if not carefully overseen. We’ll start this week’s recommended reads with the feds monitoring such disclosures and even making referrals to the
Weekly reads: Yale scientist suspended, WA AG sues clinic, new pubs Read More »
The big news of the week was a $3.6 million settlement by a stem cell clinic, StemGenex, and one of its doctors in a class-action suit. I covered this StemGenex settlement and so did Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times and Paul Schloesser at Endpoints. I’d say this was good news for the stem cell field
Stem cell weekly reads: Jamie Thomson, Lamin B1, CRISPR Read More »
About 1 million people are living with multiple sclerosis in the U.S. alone with millions of other cases around the world so a huge effort has gone into trying to find new approaches to the disease including stem cells for MS. We’ll start our weekly recommended reads by talking about a new paper on MS
Stem cells for MS & other weekly reads: CRISPR, COVID & a bat cave, Huntington’s Read More »
The idea of stem cells outright curing diseases is exciting and has powerful appeal, but media need to be careful about using the word cure in headlines and articles as we saw this week related to a possible HIV Cure. HIV cure via stem cells and chemo? The big news of the week was that
Weekly reads: possible rare HIV cure, stem cell chicken, FDA commish Read More »
What exactly is a mesenchymal cell and what does the acronym MSC stand for these days? I took a stab recently at discussing mesenchymal cells and the MSC acronym so check that out. There is a great need for standards on MSCs and the products out there being marketed as MSCs are probably in reality
Weekly reads: MSC, p53, EuroGCT, fake fish, K27M CAR-T Read More »