Beate Brand-Saberi - Essential Current Concepts in Stem Cell Biology

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Over the past two decades, stem cell research has exploded: Publications have multiplied exponentially.

The path of ground-breaking findings and innovative molecular approaches was paved with Nobel prizes. Mentioning only a few, the derivation of embryonic stem cells by Sir Martin Evans (Nobel Prize together with Professors Carpecchi and Smithies in 2007) is an outstanding example for a mutual fertilization of interdisciplinary approaches, in this case derived from developmental biology and pathology. The traditional concept of a one-way track regarding the developmental potencies during embryonic development of cells was challenged in the late 1960s by Sir John Gurdons nuclear transfer experiments and eventually revolutionized by Yamanakas pluripotency induction with defined factors (Nobel Prize Professor John Gurdon and Professor Shinya Yamanaka in 2012).

Clearly, stem cell biology belongs to the most innovative and competitive research fields. What is more, it has combined different disciplines in a unique way: Molecular and morphological basic sciences have met with clinical approaches, material sciences and philosophy. Reality has overtaken our imagination once more so rapidly that most of us almost forgot about implementing structured modern approaches to teach stem cell biology.

To date, there are still only very few textbooks addressing stem cell biology and none of them is as comprehensive as the present one. This book has been written by scientists who have been involved in teaching the students of the international master program Molecular and Developmental Stem Cell Biology which was launched at Ruhr University Bochum in 2011 and has been running with great success since then. I am very grateful to all the contributors to this textbook for their great efforts and dedication to their roles as academic teachers in spite of their competitive research projects. Our authors from Tongji University were involved in the ISAP (Internationale Studien- und Ausbildungspartnerschaften) exchange program supported by the DAAD between 2012 and 2016. It was not easy for all contributors to spare the time for writing down their valuable experience and recommendations in textbook chapters. So thank you again to all of them!

This book will be helpul to all those who strive to get into this important transdisciplinary research topic, be it master students, PhD students, MD students, postdocs or clinicians. However, as you will see, there is still some work for you to do: The book is not only intended for learning facts, but also for contemplating the white patches in the mosaic of our growing knowledge. Importantly, the chapters included here reveal that stem cell biology is rapidly expanding towards translational medical approaches, but they also address the challenges to be overcome for future progress. iPSCs, MSC, organoids, regeneration using scaffolds, extracellular vesicles, disease modelling and in depth knowledge of the multiple interacting cell types composing the tissues in our bodies are fascinating still developing aspects of stem cell biology written by experts in the field to be included into this volume. I personally hope that the book will contribute to an unbiassed interdisciplinary (and international) academic dialogue in this field. As stem cell research is often being perceived either with inappropriate hype, hope or simplistic damnation in public, a chapter on bioethics has been included as an integral part of learning about stem cells.

My thanks are due to my colleague PD Dr. Holm Zaehres for his kind advice, support and encouragement during the assembly of the chapters and final stages of this book. I would also like to express my gratitude to Dr. Amrei Strehl of the Springer Nature team and to Bibhuti Sharma of the publishing team for their constructive support and extraordinary patience. Finally and importantly, I wish to thank my family for their understanding and support.