Summary

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.

Choice Review

Probably no area of current cell biology research is as imbued with hope for treatment of human disease, and as bedeviled by ethical concerns, as stem cell research. Once, true pluripotent stem cells were thought to reside only in bone marrow and related tissues; recent findings confirm that most human tissues harbor a population of stem cells. This understanding plus technical advances that permit the reprogramming of differentiated adult cells to become pluripotent have fueled new possibilities for a wide variety of therapies-and permitted the growth of misunderstandings and even outright frauds concerning stem cells as well. This second edition, some 100 pages longer than its predecessor (CH, Nov'11, 49-1501), seeks to educate interested readers about the true therapeutic possibilities that stem cells present, to describe new and exciting research (organs-on-a-chip, anyone?) in clear and nontechnical prose, and to correct possible misunderstandings about this brave new world of biology. It is an impressive encyclopedia of modern biotechnology that presents complex material in short, easy-to-grasp chapters. Some of the technical details are oddly placed, and some of the illustrations are (literally) too sketchy. However, this is a solid, informative effort. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. --Sally K. Sommers Smith, Boston University