Earlier this year Chinese researcher He Jiankui finished his prison sentence. When I saw that news I wondered about the next chapter for him. It seems he’s already back in the lab doing genetics research. At least that’s according to a blog by He Jiankui himself. Can we trust that what he has written on his website is […]
He Jiankui says he’s back in the lab after prison for CRISPR babies Read More »
When I first heard of CRISPR gene editing I was excited for my lab to try it out, but it seemed a long way from the field having even one CRISPR therapy available to treat human disease. In the Knoepfler lab, we study genetic and genomic programming in human development and disease. Gene editing seemed
Updates on CRISPR therapy development and clinical trials Read More »
Organoids including brain organoids are an exciting, relatively new area of research. This technology is having a powerful impact on biomedical science, which is the focus of today’s post. What’s in this post Definition of organoids | Brain organoids | Challenges for mini-brains | Cutting edge cerebral organoids | References Definition of organoids and brain organoids
How brain organoids are transforming research Read More »
I grew up in the Seattle area so it wasn’t great to see stem cell clinics operating there recently, but better news was the WA State AG filing suit against a clinic there. The action included the clinic parent firm US Stemology along with its leader Dr. Tami Meraglia. The suit was filed only months ago
WA AG wins half million from Seattle stem cell clinic US Stemology Read More »
The regular emails and phone calls I get from patients asking questions about stem cell therapy are a powerful reminder of the fact that research in our field can be very personal. Sometimes individuals who receive experimental stem cell therapy (or other cell therapies) and seem to have a positive outcome can end up becoming
Overplaying N=1 in the stem cell therapy world Read More »
I am in the unique position of being a stem cell scientist who has no commercial interest in selling therapies so I can be impartial on giving patients and consumers guidance. In today’s post I give an overview of stem cell therapy and provide an expert, unbiased guide to navigating this area. This post is
Updated patients guide to stem cell therapy for 2024 Read More »
Sometimes it’s useful to ask questions like, “How many stem cells are in the human body?” As we try to answer them we end up going through key aspects of cell biology and stem cell identity more generally. How many stem cells in the human body? It might seem like possibly an easy question at
How many stem cells do we have & can you run out? Read More »
I wrote briefly a few months ago about Altos Labs. It’s a new kind of biotech institute that is focused on cellular reprogramming. Now we know much more and it’s clear this is a huge deal. What’s in this article What is Altos Labs? | Cellular rejuvenation | Reprogramming oldness | Challenges | Altos Strategies | Analysis of
All about Altos Labs and $3B cellular rejuvenation push Read More »
The amount of biomedical science hype out there is mindboggling at times, but some media or other items really take the cake for being exceptionally bad. Today’s post highlights the worst of the year 2021 as the candidates for my annual The Screamers science hype award. Click on the link in the previous sentence to
Because of blogging here on The Niche and people giving me tips I often can see trends before they fully surface and a troubling new one is intranasal stem cell delivery by unproven clinics. Over the past year I have heard of many clinics now offering this approach. I’ve seen this in marketing and heard
Clinics turning to potentially dangerous intranasal stem cell delivery Read More »