Weekly reads: MYC phosphorylation, reverse protein aging, mitochondria don’t like space, that peptide committee

by rss feed | Jul 26, 2026 | MYC oncogene, News Feeds, Rosalie Sears, weekly reads

Why am I interested in MYC phosphorylation? What is MYC? Long-time readers of The Niche probably remember that  the MYC family is one of my primary interests. These proteins are essential for normal development (and stem cell function) as well as contributing to the...

Weekly reads: T cell stem cells, thymus as anti-aging organ, octopus ribosomes, longevity ethics

by rss feed | Jul 19, 2026 | News Feeds, thymus anti-aging, weekly reads

When immunology researchers talk about “T cell stem cells” (or stem T cells or T memory stem cells), are they talking more generally about hematopoietic stem cells? No, because those have much broader potential. The most primitive stem cell for T cells can...

Weekly reads: Colossal Bio & Trump admin partnership, FDA commish finalists, appetite-regulating neurons

by rss feed | Jul 12, 2026 | Colossal Biosciences Trump, News Feeds, weekly reads

Readers of The Niche will recall that I’ve been skeptical of the efforts of the de-extinction firm Colossal Bio. For instance, I don’t believe they de-extincted dire wolves. They did make woolly mice, maybe their fluffiest (in a real sense) achievement....

Weekly reads: more FDA flexibility on rare diseases, elephant iPS cells, heritable human CRISPR, RTT rarely used, digit regeneration

by rss feed | Jun 28, 2026 | elephant stem cells, FDA, News Feeds, weekly reads

The last eighteen months have been an unprecedented time of unpredictability for the FDA, but moving forward we’re likely going to see an emerging consistency: a higher amount of FDA flexibility on rare diseases. It’s already begun and is likely to...

Weekly reads: FDA reversal on Huntington’s, Marjorie Taylor Greene gets stem cells, NIH grant cap, eye evolution

by rss feed | Jun 21, 2026 | News Feeds, Uniqure, weekly reads

I’ve been following the Huntington’s disease space carefully for about 15 years. I always hoped that some kind of promising gene therapy might emerge. Stem cell therapies or combination cell-gene therapies could have promise for Huntington’s too....

Weekly reads: macrophage therapy, Putin longevity push, human embryo base editing

by rss feed | Jun 14, 2026 | macrophage therapy, News Feeds, Putin longevity, weekly reads

I’ve often wondered why there hasn’t been more research on macrophage therapy. Macrophages are some of the coolest cells in the body. They are capable of not just eating other cells (hence their name), but also numerous other functions. Before we dive into...