Stem Cells

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. Anja van de Stolpe is Medical Scientific Advisor and Research Fellow (Senior Director level) at Philips Research. She is by background a registered clinical internist specialized in hematology with 10 years of experience in clinical internal medicine and hemato-oncology / blood coagulation in academic and peripheral hospital settings. A current research interest is innovative molecular diagnostics, especially related to oncology. She is scientifically involved in multiple translational research projects within Philips Research, ranging from circulating tumor cells to sequencing and array-based diagnostics, and oncogenic pathway modelling. She is also actively involved in Business Development, for which she received the Philips Research Entrepreneurs Award. She is cofounder and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the stem cell company Pluriomics; and a co-founder of the European School for Science Education (ESSE) for post-academic education of medical specialists. Bernard Roelen is Associate professor at the Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University in Utrecht, the Netherlands. His research is focused on mammalian germ cells, early embryos stem cells and. He is author of >70 scientific publications. Hans Clevers is obtained his MD degree in 1984 and his PhD degree in 1985 from the University Utrecht, the Netherlands. His postdoctoral work (1986-1989) was done with Cox Terhorst at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute of the Harvard University, Boston, USA. From 1991-2002 Dr. Clevers was Professor in Immunology at the University Utrecht and, since 2002, Professor in Molecular Genetics. Since 2002, he is director of the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht. He has been a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2000 and is the recipient of several awards, including the Dutch Spinoza Award in 2001, the Swiss Louis Jeantet Prize in 2004, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Katharine Berkan Judd Award in 2005, the Israeli Rabbi Shai Shacknai Memorial Prize in 2006, and the Dutch Josephine Nefkens Prize for Cancer Research and the German Meyenburg Cancer Research Award in 2008.

• 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

Winner of two British Medical Association 2011 awards: BMA Board of Science Award for the Public Understanding of Science and First Prize in the category of Basic and Clinical Sciences"Stem Cells: Scientific Facts and Fiction provides the reader background information on stem cells in a clear and well-organized manner. It provides the non-stem cell expert with an understandable review of the history, current state of affairs, and facts and fiction of the promises of stem cells. It distinguishes itself from the multiplicity of websites on the subject of stem cells by being scientifically, politically and ethically neutral, explaining pros and cons for stem cells of every sort with the intention of reaching a wide readership ranging from advanced students and patient advocacy groups to clinicians, specialists and early phase medics in training. By providing the background scientific and social information, it provides readers with the information they require to form their own opinions on the use of stem cells on the basis of facts rather than hype."--British Medical Association Board of Science Award for the Public Understanding of Science Copy excerpted from BMA website