#ips cells

Deep inside the human brain lies a delicate and highly complex network of cells responsible for our every movement. When this network functions perfectly we walk and talk and interact with the world effortlessly. But for millions of people around the globe a gradual and silent decline disrupts this system. A specific type of cell begins to wither and die. These cells produce dopamine which is a…

Stem cell good news, cool pubs, & some hype on living robots

Would living robots be good news? Image of purported living robots made from frog stem cells, which are called xenobots. This idea has been hyped in my view as these seem like chimeric organoids to me.

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…

IPS cell field update: easy culture, Parkinson’s, scarring, immune cells, & mutations

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.

IPS cell-based Fibrosis model development Fig 1b Vijayaraj et al Cell Reports 2019.

Back in 2006 I was wrapping up my postdoc with Bob Eisenman at The Hutchin Seattle, largely studying Myc, when Shinya Yamanaka published his first induced pluripotent stem…

Dubious MUSE cells are in 4 Japanese stem cell trials

Alphabet soup of stem cell acronyms could have included MUSE cells.

The stem cell universe is populated by sometimes mysterious acronyms (see an image at right of a whole alphabet 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 trialsongoing in Japan based…

Cool Cat iPS cells & other notable stem cell pubs/news

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…

Recent stem cell news: vision, brain organoids, & lab meat

Images of human cornea and anatomical annotations from “Confocal Laser Microscopy – Principles and Applications in Medicine, Biology, and the Food Sciences, Edition: 1, Chapter: Laser-Scanning in vivo Confocal Microscopy of the Cornea: Imaging and Analysis Methods for Preclinical and Clinical Applications, Publisher: InTech, Editors: Ph.D. Neil Lagali and Beatrice Bourghardt Peebo.”

365 days a…

Japan stem cell oversight system too lax?

The HeartSheet product shown here is advancing in the pipeline rapidly in part due to the Japan system of conditional approval of stem cells

The Japan stem cell and regenerative medicine oversight system has been designed to move investigational therapies forward faster than the systems in other countries such as the U.S. But how well is it working so far?

It’s an important question both for that…