A Christmas miracle or untested therapy? Why even feel-good stem cell stories need to be checked for accuracy

We’ve written several pieces over the last couple of years about the trend for professional athletes to turn to untested and/or unproven stem cell therapies to help them bounce back from injuries. This week, however, came news of something a little more worrying. Ice hockey legend Gordie Howe was given stem cells to help him … Continue reading A Christmas miracle or untested therapy? Why even feel-good stem cell stories need to be checked for accuracy

Stem cells and professional sports: a call for more science and less speculation

In the world of professional sports, teams invest tens of millions of dollars in players. Those players are under intense pressure to show a return on that investment for the team, and that means playing as hard as possible for as long as possible. So it’s no surprise that players facing serious injuries will often … Continue reading Stem cells and professional sports: a call for more science and less speculation

Putting the promise to the test: a new move to see if stem cell therapies can help injured athletes

One of the toughest questions we get asked, and we get asked this a lot, is a variation on the theme of “I have xxxx disease and want to know where I can get a stem cell therapy for it?” All too often, in fact pretty much all the time, we have to explain that … Continue reading Putting the promise to the test: a new move to see if stem cell therapies can help injured athletes

Stem cell stories that caught our eye: better cell reprogramming, heart failure and false claims for stem cells

Here are some stem cell stories that caught our eye this past week. Some are groundbreaking science, others are of personal interest to us, and still others are just fun. Improving the efficiency of creating stem cell lines. Ever since researchers first learned to reprogram adult cells to behave like embryonic stem cells in 2007 … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: better cell reprogramming, heart failure and false claims for stem cells