Main description:

Defined as, "The science about the development of an embryo from the fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage," embryology has been a mainstay at universities throughout the world for many years. Throughout the last century, embryology became overshadowed by experimental-based genetics and cell biology, transforming the field into developmental biology, which replaced embryology in Biology departments in many universities. Major contributions in this young century in the fields of molecular biology, biochemistry and genomics were integrated with both embryology and developmental biology to provide an understanding of the molecular portrait of a "development cell." That new integrated approach is known as stem-cell biology; it is an understanding of the embryology and development together at the molecular level using engineering, imaging and cell culture principles, and it is at the heart of this seminal book.

Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine: From Molecular Embryology to Tissue Engineering is completely devoted to the basic developmental, cellular and molecular biological aspects of stem cells as well as their clinical applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. It focuses on the basic biology of embryonic and cancer cells plus their key involvement in self-renewal, muscle repair, epigenetic processes, and therapeutic applications. In addition, it covers other key relevant topics such as nuclear reprogramming induced pluripotency and stem cell culture techniques using novel biomaterials.

A thorough introduction to stem-cell biology, this reference is aimed at graduate students, post-docs, and professors as well as executives and scientists in biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Contents:

Section 1: Stem Cell Biology.- Introduction to Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine.- Embryonic Stem Cells: Discovery, Development, and Current Trends.- Bmi1 in self-renewal and homeostasis of pancreas.- Cancer Stem Cells in Solid Tumors.- Adipose-derived stem cells and skeletal muscle repair.- Regeneration of sensory cells of adult mammalian inner ear.- Stem Cells and Their Use in Skeletal Tissue Repair.- Section 2: Epigenetic and microRNA Regulation in Stem Cells.- Epigenetic identity in cancer stem cells.- Function of MicroRNA-145 in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Pluripotency.- Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Liver Regeneration.- Section 3: Stem Cells for Therapeutic Applications.- The Role of Time-Lapse Microscopy in Stem Cell Research and Therapy.- Therapeutic applications of mesenchymal stem/multipotent stromal cells.- Gastrointestinal stem cells.- Lung epithelial stem cells.- Placental Derived Stem Cells, Potential Clinical Applications.- Bone Marrow Cell Therapy for Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Clinical Trial Review.- Stem cell Transplantation to the Heart.- Adult Neural Progenitor Cells and Cell Replacement Therapy for Huntington's Disease.- Migration of Transplanted Neural Stem Cells in Experimental Models of Neurodegenerative Diseases.- Prospects for neural stem cell therapy of Alzheimer's disease.- Section 4: Nuclear Reprogramming and induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.- Nuclear transfer ES cells as a new tool for basic biology.- Pluripotent stem cells in reproductive medicine: Formation of the human germ line in vitro.- Prospects for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes.- Keratinocyte induced pluripotent stem cells: from hair to where?.- Generation and Characterization of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Pig.- Induced pluripotent stem cells, on the road toward clinical applications.- Direct reprogramming of human neural stem cells by the single transcription factor Oct 4.- Section 5: Tissue Engineering.- Stem cells and biomaterials: the tissue engineering approach.- Micro-technology for stem cell culture.- Using Lab-on-A-Chip Technologies for Stem cell Biology.- The Development of Small Molecules and Growth Supplements to Control the Differentiation of Stem Cells and the Formation of Neural Tissues.- Long-term propagation of neural stem cells: Focus on 3D culture systems and mitogenic factors.- Section 6: Regenerative Medicine.- Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine in Urology.- Muscle derived stem cells: a model for stem cell therapy in regenerative medicine.- Regenerative strategies for cardiac disease.- Collecting, Processing, Banking and Use of Cord Blood Stem Cells for Regenerative Medicine.