Stem Cells: An Insider's Guide

1. Meet your stem cells. What are stem cells? What do stem cells do? A stem cell fountain of youth? The cancer connection. Stem cell therapies. Stem cell veterinary medicine: helping our pets and animals too. Getting schooled in stem cells. Recommended stem cell resources. Summary -- 2. The types of stem cells and their clinical potential. What stem cell treatments promise. The four main kinds of stem cells for treatments. Summary -- 3. Stem cell treatments: applications and obstacles. The key ways stem cells can be used as medicines. Powerful applications for iPS cells: disease modeling and drug discovery. Stem cells may greatly reduce the need for animal research via modeling. Lessons from bone marrow transplants. Cautionary lessons from gene therapy for the stem cell field. Four key biological roadblocks to stem cell treatments. Cell fusion and confusion of cell identity. Bias. Building rather than burning stem cell bridges. What really happens to transplanted stem cells: more challenges. Stem cell capsule. Summary -- 4. Stem cell models: past, present, and future. The discovery of stem cells. Models of stem cells based on function. A new global symbol for stem cells for the future. Not lost in translation: a global model of stem cells for the future. The cultural language of stem cells -- 5. All in the family: an insider's tale of two stem cells and a black sheep. Starting the tour: a backstage pass to a stem cell lab. An insider's tour of a prototypic stem cell. A day in the cellular life of an endogenous stem cell. My pet stem cell: the very different cellular life in a lab. What could go wrong in the lab? The black sheep of the family: cancer stem cells. Summary -- 6. Aging: the stem cell connection. Stem cell banking: another way to battle aging? Summary -- 7. Law and order stem cells. US laws and regulations on stem cell procedures. Are stem cells a drug? Balancing innovation with safety. Compliant, but scientifically and medically questionable use of 361 stem cell therapies. FDA regulation of stem cell claims. Human subjects research and IRBs. Stem cell clinical trials process. Suggestions for an improved FDA of the future. Expanding stem cell compassionate use: proceed, but with caution. Summary