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= The Niche (Website) =

The Niche is an educational website about stem cells and regenerative medicine. It is primarily written by stem cell biologist Paul Knoepfler, but has other authors including most recently science writer, Ricki Lewis. It also has a medical advisory board with prominent stem cell researchers who are physicians including Arnold Kriegstein, M.D., Ph.D.

It is the longest-running, active stem cell blog, having been started in 2010. It has been cited in numerous scientific publications such as Science Magazine, Nature , and in top media outlets such as the New York Times , Washington Post , and STAT News.

Impact
The Niche is a leading proponent of science-based regenerative medicine and has had concrete impact on regulatory policies such as those of the FDA related to stem cells. For example, the Pew Charitable Trust did a study on regenerative medicine and prominently cited The Niche in several cases as a resource for information. FDA leadership has cited The Niche author Knoepfler in their published articles about the regenerative medicine field and its oversight.

The Niche is the primary global critic of unproven stem cell clinics, which have become a more pervasive problem in recent years. The site and Knoepfler’s paper in 2016 with Leigh Turner in Cell Stem Cell have spurred the FDA, the FTC, and state medical boards to take more rigorous action related to stem cell clinics. For example, because of these efforts, the FDA sued a Florida stem cell clinic and has a permanent injunction in place. In a second, still ongoing suit in California, the Department of Justice specifically cited The Niche in its court filing as providing key evidence. ,

The Niche also helped advocate for Google’s relatively new policy banning ads for stem cell clinics and other firms seeking to profit off of unproven biomedical offerings.

The Niche reported early on negative outcomes patients have experienced from unproven stem cell clinics including the blinding of patients and more than a dozen patients being acutely hospitalized with sepsis because of a contaminated batch of supposed umbilical cord stem cells.

The latter incident was a focus of the popular Bad Batch podcast, where The Niche was also cited.

Earlier, the Niche also played an important role in the debunking of so-called STAP cells, which ultimately led to the retraction of the two Nature papers involved.

In addition, the site has a global educational outreach program has a stem cell white paper written available in 34 languages at no cost to readers.

Controversy
In 2017, The Niche ran a series of posts by Knoepfler that was highly critical of the practices of Northwestern University and Dr. Richard Burt related to their stem cells for autoimmune disease program. The series was highlighted in Science Magazine. The Niche was critical of what it perceived to be hype by the program and of Northwestern requiring large patient payments. The Niche also cited an FDA Warning that Northwestern and Burt had received related to patient deaths. In response, Burt and co-authors wrote a response in Science arguing that blogs cannot separate wheat from chaff. Since that time, however, Northwestern has shut the autoimmune disease program down for reasons that remain unclear.