People often ask me about stem cells for autism or even their hope of an autism cure. I’ve explained that there is no new treatment for autism based on stem cells. There aren’t even mildly encouraging data. Note that it can be hurtful to the community to talk about an autism cure and disregarding neurodiversity. …
I wrote a few weeks ago about a firm called RGCC or Research Genetic Cancer Center, which sells what I see as an unproven RNA therapy to clinics throughout the US. The approach is called supportive oligonucleotide therapy or SOT. After buying it from RGCC, the clinics then sell SOT injections for Lyme disease, other …
US clinics selling unproven RGCC cell therapies in addition to SOT 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 »
A new paper on stem cells for paralysis from a Mayo Clinic team has sparked a bit of legitimate hope but also some hype in the media. The publication was in Nature Communications. It is entitled “Intrathecal delivery of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells in traumatic spinal cord injury: Phase I trial.” The approach was direct injection …
Perspectives on new stem cells for paralysis paper & media coverage 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 »
An unproven Georgia stem cell clinic called Superior Healthcare and other co-defendants recently lost a key court case. Some of you may remember that the Attorney General (AG) of Georgia Chris Carr and the FTC have been collaborating on this case. Now we have the good news that they have won the case via a …
Georgia AG & FTC win Superior Healthcare stem cell clinic case, seek $17 million 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 …
The Mayo Clinic does some great research on stem cells and regenerative medicine. However, at times I’ve felt that a few Mayo researchers are overexuberant. This mainly relates to certain not-yet-proven stem cell and related offerings. Fitting with that perception, the Mayo website also has some inaccurate stem cell content that leans toward overstating things. …
Key Mayo Clinic stem cell webpage is overexuberant & outdated Read More »
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 »