New discoveries in the field of stem cells increasingly dominate the news and scientific literature revealing an avalanche of new knowledge and research tools that are producing therapies for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and a wide variety of other diseases that afflict humanity. The Handbook of Stem Cells integrates this exciting area of life science, combining in two volumes the requisites for a general understanding of adult and embryonic stem cells. Organized in two volumes entitled Pluripotent Stem Cells and Cell Biology and Adult and Fetal Stem Cells, this work contains contributions from the world’s experts in stem cell research to provide a description of the tools, methods, and experimental protocols needed to study and characterize stem cells and progenitor populations as well as a the latest information of what is known about each specific organ system.

"The Handbook of Stem Cells, edited by Robert Lanza and colleagues, is an ambitious new text that achieves extraordinary completeness and inclusiveness...the editors have succeeded in putting together a reference that is broad enough in scope, but sufficiently detailed and rigorous, to be of real interest to both new and seasoned investigators in the field. ...In providing this treatise, which covers the history, biology, methods and applications of stem cells, the editors and authors have succeeded in establishing a conceptual framework and a common language for the field. In so doing, they have ensured that this two-volume set will serve as a benchmark reference in stem cell biology for years to come." --Nature Cell Biology, April 2005 "I am firmly convinced this is a set every biologist and physician, whatsoever his specialty, must have on his desk. ...The reader can benefit from the contributions by the foremost authorities and premiere names (more than 300 contributors; addresses provided) in the field of stem cell research. The two-volume collection of articles (155 chapters) covers everything of the present state of stem cell science, from the care and feeding of mouse stem cells to the possible use of embryonic stem cells in spinal cord repair." --European Journal of Histochemistry "These books make an invaluable contribution to the education of researchers and clinicians both of the present day and of the future. They should be available in libraries of all biology and medical schools as well as those of companies and research institutions." --Ian Wilmut, Times Higher Education Supplement "...a two volume collection of scientific articles covering everything from the care and feeding of mouse stems cells to the possible use of embryonic stem cells in spinal cord repairs. With 155 chapters and more than 300 contributors, the handbook is the result of a two-year effort to present the state of stem-cell science...The first volume focuses on embryonic stem cells, those found in human and animal embryos. Volume two covers stem cells drawn from fetuses and the 'adult' stem cells available in the bodies of children and adults...Actors Mary Tyler Moore and Christopher Reeve, who have previously lobbied for stem-cell research, also contributed chapters." --Lisa Eckelbecker, Telegram and Gazette "...a collection of definitive articles by the world's experts... the research outlined in this volume is equally certain to contribute to cures for cancer and for a large number of other less famous diseases - many of mysterious origin - that presently represent terrible afflictions for humanity." --Bruce Alberts, President of the National Academy of Sciences (from the Foreword to Volume 1) "This two-volume book is a much-needed attempt to bring together the cumulative work of many investigators in widely diverse aspects of stem cell studies." --E. Donnal Thomas, Nobel Laureate Medicine/Physiology, 1990 (from the Foreword to Volume 2) "...the Handbook of Stem Cells is highly recommended primarily as a reference for scientists in the field of animal development...Academic medical libraries and other academic or special libraries serving researchers in cell and developmental biology will particularly benefit from having this handbook available." --E-Streams, February 2005

Anthony Atala, MD, is the G. Link Professor and Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and the W. Boyce Professor and Chair of Urology. Dr. Atala is a practicing surgeon and a researcher in the area of regenerative medicine. Fifteen applications of technologies developed in Dr. Atala's laboratory have been used clinically. He is Editor of 25 books and 3 journals. Dr. Atala has published over 800 journal articles and has received over 250 national and international patents. Dr. Atala was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences, to the National Academy of Inventors as a Charter Fellow, and to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Dr. Atala has led or served several national professional and government committees, including the National Institutes of Health working group on Cells and Developmental Biology, the National Institutes of Health Bioengineering Consortium, and the National Cancer Institute’s Advisory Board. He is a founding member of the Tissue Engineering Society, Regenerative Medicine Foundation, Regenerative Medicine Manufacturing Innovation Consortium, Regenerative Medicine Development Organization, and Regenerative Medicine Manufacturing Society. Robert Lanza is an American scientist and author whose research spans the range of natural science, from biology to theoretical physics. TIME magazine recognized him as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World,” and Prospect magazine named him one of the Top 50 “World Thinkers.” He has hundreds of scientific publications and over 30 books, including definitive references in the fields of stem cells, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. He’s a former Fulbright Scholar and studied with polio-pioneer Jonas Salk and Nobel laureates Gerald Edelman (known for his work on the biological basis of consciousness) and Rodney Porter. He also worked closely (and co-authored papers in Science on self-awareness and symbolic communication) with noted Harvard psychologist BF Skinner. Dr. Lanza was part of the team that cloned the world’s first human embryo, the first endangered species, and published the first-ever reports of pluripotent stem cell use in humans.