Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine


Book Description

Recent scientific breakthroughs, celebrity patient advocates, and conflicting religious beliefs have come together to bring the state of stem cell researchâ€"specifically embryonic stem cell researchâ€"into the political crosshairs. President Bush's watershed policy statement allows federal funding for embryonic stem cell research but only on a limited number of stem cell lines. Millions of Americans could be affected by the continuing political debate among policymakers and the public. Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine provides a deeper exploration of the biological, ethical, and funding questions prompted by the therapeutic potential of undifferentiated human cells. In terms accessible to lay readers, the book summarizes what we know about adult and embryonic stem cells and discusses how to go about the transition from mouse studies to research that has therapeutic implications for people. Perhaps most important, Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine also provides an overview of the moral and ethical problems that arise from the use of embryonic stem cells. This timely book compares the impact of public and private research funding and discusses approaches to appropriate research oversight. Based on the insights of leading scientists, ethicists, and other authorities, the book offers authoritative recommendations regarding the use of existing stem cell lines versus new lines in research, the important role of the federal government in this field of research, and other fundamental issues.







The Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research


Book Description

Embryonic stem cell research holds unique promise for developing therapies for currently incurable diseases and conditions, and for important biomedical research. However, the process through which embryonic stem cells are obtained involves the destruction of early human embryos. Katrien Devolder focuses on the tension between the popular view that an embryo should never be deliberately harmed or destroyed, and the view that embryonic stem cell research, because of its enormous promise, must go forward. She provides an in-depth ethical analysis of the major philosophical and political attempts to resolve this tension. One such attempt involves the development of a middle ground position, which accepts only types or aspects of embryonic stem cell research deemed compatible with the view that the embryo has a significant moral status. An example is the position that it can be permissible to derive stem cells from embryos left over from in vitro fertilisation but not from embryos created for research. Others have advocated a technical solution. Several techniques have been proposed for deriving embryonic stem cells, or their functional equivalents, without harming embryos. An example is the induced pluripotent stem cell technique. Through highlighting inconsistencies in the arguments for these positions, Devolder argues that the central tension in the embryonic stem cell debate remains unresolved. This conclusion has important implications for the stem cell debate, as well as for policies inspired by this debate.




Adult and Embryonic Stem Cells


Book Description

This volume will cover a series of reviews on stem cells including adult and embryonic stem cells. Speakers were invited to present these talks during the Stem Cell Symposia in fall of 2010, in Samsun, Turkey. Unique aspect of this volume is that it brings a multidisciplinary aspect of stem cells extracted from a symposium.




Human Embryonic Stem Cells


Book Description

A discussion of all the key issues in the use of human pluripotent stem cells for treating degenerative diseases or for replacing tissues lost from trauma. On the practical side, the topics range from the problems of deriving human embryonic stem cells and driving their differentiation along specific lineages, regulating their development into mature cells, and bringing stem cell therapy to clinical trials. Regulatory issues are addressed in discussions of the ethical debate surrounding the derivation of human embryonic stem cells and the current policies governing their use in the United States and abroad, including the rules and conditions regulating federal funding and questions of intellectual property.




Cell of Cells


Book Description

Positioned at the cutting edge of science, 'Cell of Cells' charts the international race to utilize the stem cell.




Stem Cell Research


Book Description

This volume brings together essays by an internationally distinguished and diverse group of scholars. Contributors thoughtfully explore the ethical, public policy, and scientific implications of embryonic and adult stem cell research. Part one of the book offers a variety of scientific and public policy perspectives, including essays on stem cell plasticity and using umbilical cord blood as an alternative source of pluripotent stem cells. Part two vigorously examines the ethics of stem cell research and considers issues of social justice, morality, and public policy. Scientific alternatives, a natural law perspective regarding federal funding, and a discussion of the possible moral complicity of Catholic researchers are among the distinctive contributions made to the stem cell research debate by this collection. The objective and balanced discussions contained in this volume serve as an accessible introduction to the bioethical questions, issues, and problems surrounding stem cell research.




Principles of Regenerative Medicine


Book Description

Virtually any disease that results from malfunctioning, damaged, or failing tissues may be potentially cured through regenerative medicine therapies, by either regenerating the damaged tissues in vivo, or by growing the tissues and organs in vitro and implanting them into the patient. Principles of Regenerative Medicine discusses the latest advances in technology and medicine for replacing tissues and organs damaged by disease and of developing therapies for previously untreatable conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, and renal failure. - Key for all researchers and instituions in Stem Cell Biology, Bioengineering, and Developmental Biology - The first of its kind to offer an advanced understanding of the latest technologies in regenerative medicine - New discoveries from leading researchers on restoration of diseased tissues and organs




Human Stem Cell Manual


Book Description

This manual is a comprehensive compilation of "methods that work" for deriving, characterizing, and differentiating hPSCs, written by the researchers who developed and tested the methods and use them every day in their laboratories. The manual is much more than a collection of recipes; it is intended to spark the interest of scientists in areas of stem cell biology that they may not have considered to be important to their work. The second edition of the Human Stem Cell Manual is an extraordinary laboratory guide for both experienced stem cell researchers and those just beginning to use stem cells in their work. - Offers a comprehensive guide for medical and biology researchers who want to use stem cells for basic research, disease modeling, drug development, and cell therapy applications - Provides a cohesive global view of the current state of stem cell research, with chapters written by pioneering stem cell researchers in Asia, Europe, and North America - Includes new chapters devoted to recently developed methods, such as iPSC technology, written by the scientists who made these breakthroughs




The Art and Politics of Science


Book Description

A Nobel Prize–winning cancer biologist, leader of major scientific institutions, and scientific adviser to President Obama reflects on his remarkable career. A PhD candidate in English literature at Harvard University, Harold Varmus discovered he was drawn instead to medicine and eventually found himself at the forefront of cancer research at the University of California, San Francisco. In this “timely memoir of a remarkable career” (American Scientist), Varmus considers a life’s work that thus far includes not only the groundbreaking research that won him a Nobel Prize but also six years as the director of the National Institutes of Health; his current position as the president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; and his important, continuing work as scientific adviser to President Obama. From this truly unique perspective, Varmus shares his experiences from the trenches of politicized battlegrounds ranging from budget fights to stem cell research, global health to science publishing.