Recent advances in the fields of medicine and technology have led to the development of stem cell therapy. A stem cell is a cell that has the potential to develop into many different types of cell in the body. It has the ability to divide and copy itself and at least one other specialized type of cell. Stem Cells was written to provide information about the development of stem cell therapy, which can be used in the fields of research and medicine. The main goal of the book is to provide readers with an overview of the scientific facts about stem cells and its promising effects on the human body, as well as on the creation of new drugs and medicines. The book also highlights the ongoing clinical research into stem cells and lists the therapies whose effectiveness is being investigated. Many scientists argue that stem cell therapy will be of great help to patients and society if it is proven to be safe and effective. - Explains in straightforward, non-specialist language the basic biology of stem cells and their applications in modern medicine and future therapy - Includes extensive coverage of adult and embryonic stem cells both historically and in contemporary practice - Richly illustrated to assist in understanding how research is done and the current hurdles to clinical practice

Christine Mummery is a Professor of Developmental Biology at Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands and head of the Department of Anatomy and Embryology. Her research concerns heart development and the differentiation of pluripotent human stem cells into the cardiac and vascular lineages and using these cells as disease models, for safety pharmacology, drug discovery and future cardiac repair. Immediate interests are on developing biophysical techniques for characterization and functional analysis of cardiovascular cells from hPSC. She was recently awarded a multimillion grant for this purpose and is awardee of a prestigious European Research Council Advanced Grant. A member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Science, and former board member of the International Society of Stem Cell research and the Netherlands Medical Research Council, she's editor in chief of the ISSCR journal Stem Cell Reports and is also on the editorial boards of Cell Stem Cell, Cardiovascular Research and Stem Cells.

Foreword Introduction Chapter 1: Biology of the Cell Chapter 2: Embryonic development Chapter 3: Of mice and men: History of stem cells Chapter 4: What are stem cells? Chapter 5: Origin of stem cells Chapter 6: Types of stem cells Chapter 7: Cloning: history and current applications Chapter 8: Clinical applications of stem cells Chapter 9: Cancer stem cells Chapter 10: Applications for drugs and toxicity screening Chapter 11: Venturing in stem cells (law and intellectual property) Chapter 12: Future Prospects

References and websites

Glossary of terms

Index