Who is Dr. Aeron Potter at the University of California?

Stem cell; cell based hair therapy
1

According to the Wikipedia article on Stem Cell Therapy (under the Baldness section), there’s a researcher named Aeron Potter at the University of California (they didn’t say which campus – UCLA, UCSD, UC Berkeley, etc.) who has demonstrated significant new hair growth using stem cells, and his findings are currently under investigation by the journal “Science”.

Only problem is, when I Google “Aeron Potter”, except for the exact same reference (almost the same sentence) on many websites, including HT sites, I get no original references to who the man is, or any clear connection to the University of California.

Here is a typical secondary reference which just restates the Wikipedia claim…

http://www.nehair.com/stem-cells

Even when I try “Googlewhacking” the name in different combinations…

“Aeron Potter” + hair

“Aeron Potter” + “stem cell”

“Aeron Potter” + “University of California”

Potter + “University of California” + “stem cell”

Potter + “University of California” + hair

With all of the above combinations, I still get no primary, credible references.

Even when I replace “Aeron” with “Aaron” or “Aron” (as “Aeron” could be a mistake… after all, it’s the name of a chair), I still get nothing credible.

You would think if Aeron Potter is a faculty member at UC, he would have a reference, a biography, or a page of some sort online.

2

I’ve never heard of him but I am curious which stem cells he used. Is it adipose derived stem cells?

3

[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by jarjarbinx[/postedby]
I’ve never heard of him but I am curious which stem cells he used. Is it adipose derived stem cells?[/quote]

At this point I’m not even sure a “Dr. Aeron Potter” really exists. It would be almost unheard of for him not to have primary references about his research on one of the UC sites and elsewhere.

I really hope this isn’t some idiot’s complete mangling of the news about Dr. Stefan Heller, at Stanford University (also in California, but not a UC school), and his work using stem cells to regenerate inner-ear hair cells (which are NOT the same thing as scalp hair follicle cells, not even closely related).

https://hearinglosscure.stanford.edu/2014/03/inner-ear-hair-cell-like-cells-from-human-embryonic-stem-cells/

If that’s the case, then it would be an example of some totally incorrect misinformation being spread virally from Wikipedia to all sorts of websites around the world, without people doing their fact-checking.

4

a slightly differnt version:

Most not long ago, Aeron Potter of the University of California has asserted that shoot cell treatment guided to a important and noticeable advancement in follicular hair development . Results as of his trials are under evaluation by the periodical Science (journal).

http://projectmanagementsurvival.com/stem-cell-treatments-baldness.html

maybe this guy?

“academic citations” of him

http://foreign-languages.karazin.ua/resources/77156144cb8015233184abae47e79ce9.pdf#page=124

http://www.ijarpb.com/pdf/vol_02/16.pdf

which cite his quotation coming from:

  1. Steinberg D. Stem Cell Discoveries Stir Debate / D. Steinberg // The
    Scientist. – 2000. – № 13 – P. 1-15.

?

5

Great research, Needhairasap, you found several I couldn’t find. However, I think all these references say the exact same thing, just using a few different words here and there.

There is absolutely no credible reference I can find to a “Dr. Aeron Potter” or “Aeron Potter” or “Aaron Potter” anywhere involved in stem cell research, at the UC or elsewhere, which is a gigantic red flag.

I can say with almost 100% certainty, that if this person really existed and researched under that name, we’d be able to quickly Google him and confirm that.

The fact that we can’t tells me that this is probably a hoax, all stemming from a single source, and all these references are just reiterations of the first erroneous reference. It’s very disturbing if all these people in academia are too lazy or too stupid to do some simple research to corroborate this claim.

6

I think so too… very strange…

Dr Vera Price, director of the University of California, San Francisco Hair Research Center

Very strange.

Maybe somebody could call and ask the university?

Or the Science (the journal)?

7

[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by needhairasap[/postedby]
I think so too… very strange…

Dr Vera Price, director of the University of California, San Francisco Hair Research Center

Very strange.

Maybe somebody could call and ask the university?

Or the Science (the journal)?[/quote]

I have emailed a top stem cell researcher at the University of California.

8

Needhairasap,

Good find – she has done some interesting and relevant work…

Hair follicle stem cell-specific PPARgamma deletion causes scarring alopecia

9

Cool. Will be interesting to hear, but it does sound like it must be a hoax or something.

Probably some stem cell company made it up for their website and then…well you know the rest.

10

Vera Price is legit, but Aeron Potter sounds absurd. Aeron sounds like Aeron Damphair from Song of Ice and Fire, and Harry Potter?

11

Cool!

If there is no Aeron Potter there then maybe this is just a mistake rather than a hoax. Why do you think that it’s a hoax?

Couldn’t someone have gotten the name wrong or something like that?

Is there any point in contacting the journal that the work is supposedly being reviewed by? Maybe they could shed some light on this situation.

12

Sure, contacting Science wouldn’t hurt. But I think UC is most likely to be able to confirm or deny this right away.

13

Let us know what you find out. Right now I’m pretty involved with communicating with adipose derived stem cell clinics.

14

My contact, a professor of Medicine at on of the UC institutions, said, “The name does not ring a bell. I’d be cautious.”