Induced pluripotent stem cells or IPS cells just might be the most exciting development in the stem cell field over the last 15 years. They have unique potential for clinical impact for regenerative medicine too, both through their use to produce differentiated cellular therapies and indirectly via disease modeling as well as drug screening. The scientist who first made them, Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, received the Nobel Prize in 2012 for this discovery. Dr. Yamanaka thought outside the box. He applied basic science knowledge gained …Read More
iPS cells
We often talk about stem cells but there are some pretty basic, important questions that often go unanswered like ‘where do stem cells come from?’ The Niche It’s a more complicated and interesting question than you might think, and some of the answers point to novel ways in which stem cells may be used to treat human diseases. Note that if you are looking for information in a language other than English, my stem cell outreach pages have key facts about stem cells in …Read More
IPS cell research is a growing area of promise for regenerative medicine. These stem cells, also known as iPSCs or more formally as Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, are engineered cells that are programmed to function the same way as embryonic stem cells. They can be differentiated into possibly any type of cell that is needed for therapeutic purposes. Since iPSC production was first reported by Shinya Yamanaka using mouse and human cells in 2006 and 2007, respectively, cells from a whole host of species have …Read More
It’s notable how the FDA now considers gene-editing a kind of regenerative medicine. This means that various gene therapy products in development technically qualify as regenerative therapies. Ever since the agency began its rapidly growing regenerative medicine advanced therapy (RMAT) designation program, we’ve seen an increasing number of gene therapy biotechs and products qualify as RMATs. As a result, the RMAT-qualified gene therapies get to go into a speedier lane of FDA oversight. Today’s post is a mix of recommended reads in the regenerative …Read More
Over time I seem to collect more upbeat stories about stem cells and regenerative medicine as well as cool publications so today’s “good news” post is a collection of these kinds of things plus one example of huge science hype. Here’s a list of past such upbeat posts. The preclinical good news in rats from my graduate alma mater UCSD, ‘New Injection Technique May Boost Spinal Cord Injury Repair Efforts‘ via stem cells. Here’s the actual Stem Cells Translational Medicine pub.from a team led …Read More
Where do things stand today in 2020 with IPS cell research? It’s been 14 years since they were first reported, but they continue to make news. Back in 2006 I was wrapping up my postdoc with Bob Eisenman at The Hutch in Seattle, largely studying Myc, when Shinya Yamanaka published his first induced pluripotent stem cell (IPS cell) paper in Cell. For me it was one of those amazing moments reading a pub when you just go “wow!” Now all these years later we …Read More
The stem cell universe is populated by sometimes mysterious acronyms (see an image of a whole alphabet stem cell acronym soup), many of which refer to specific kinds of stem cells including one nebulous type called MUSE cells. I’m not convinced that MUSE cells exist, but oddly there appear to be four clinical trials ongoing in Japan based on MUSE cells. So somebody believes in them. Is the clinical work using MUSE cells in Japan allowed because of the more permissive regenerative medicine regulatory …Read More
Once or twice a month I do a post on notable stem cell publications and news, which often but not always include research on iPS cells. It’s sort of a recommended reads kind of post, but I often include one or two things that aren’t necessarily recommended exactly yet seem kind of surprising or novel in some ways. Here’s today’s list. One bit of news first On the RMAT front: “FDA Grants RMAT Designation for CAR T-Cell Therapy for Multiple Myeloma.” You can see …Read More
365 days a year, 24 hours a day stem cells are growing in labs around the world, providing a never-ending stream of data and products, with real hope, good news, and lots of surprises. You can see some past examples of good news in the stem cell and regenerative medicine field highlighted on The Niche here. Today’s post brings 2 examples of recent good news and a brain organoid surprise. And one bonus more about space and when you’d run out of air (or not …Read More
In the past month or two there has been a steady stream of good news in the stem cell and regenerative medicine world. Here are three examples. Fate Therapeutics announced the first US IND for an induced pluripotent stem cell (IPSC)-related product. Its cleared product, FT500, is an off-the-shelf natural killer-based cancer immunotherapy. I expect more to come in the next couple years so good news now and likely more to come. IPSC-based trials are picking up in Japan too with trials related to …Read More