Table of Contents

Introduction

• Overview
• What are stem cells?
• Stem cell lineages
• Types and origins of stem cells
• Animal stem cells versus human stem cells

Stem cell research 202: vital concepts

• Autograft versus allograft versus xenograft
• Germ layers: ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm
• Totipotent versus pluripotent versus multipotent
• Differentiation, transdifferentiation and plasticity
• Cell fusion
• Stem cell niches
• Teratoma and teratocarcinoma
• Standard stem cell genetic manipulation techniques
• Requirements of fully-qualified embryonic stem cells

Of mice and men:  a history of stem cell research

• The beginnings: teratocarcinomas in mice
• Embryonic stem cells are isolated from animals
• Embryonic stem cells differentiating to somatic tissues
• Human embryonic stem cells are isolated
• Animal dependency is fully removed from the equation
• The golden age

Stem cell therapy: stepwise requirements and challenges

• Acquire supply of stem cells
• Manipulate stem cells if needed
• Eliminate the tumor potential of stem cells
• Purify the desired lineage
• Transplant cells into target area
• Prevent rejection of transplanted cells

Non-technical challenges of stem cell research

• Stem cell research ethics
• Cultural barriers
• Legal barriers
• Political barriers
• Patents
• Insurance and health care costs

Important disease applications of stem cell research

• Neurological
  • Spinal cord injury and neurotrauma
  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
  • Stroke
• Cancer
  • Leukemia
• Skeletal
  • Replacement bony structures
  • Osteoporosis
• Autoimmune
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Multiple sclerosis
• Cardiovascular
  • Acute myocardial infarct
• Gastrointestinal
  • Diabetes
  • Liver disease
  • Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
• Integumental
  • Skin transplantation
• Other diseases

Other applications for stem cell research

• Embryology
• Stem cells as cellular physiology models
• Stem cells in toxicology and pharmacology
• Agricultural research
• Aging research

Recent advances and novel approaches

• Patient-derived feeder support mediums
• Preimplantation-stage stem cells to reduce allograft rejection
• Extrachromosomal expression for gene product replacement
• RNA interference for gene product removal
• Organogenesis
• Biodegradable scaffolds for three dimensional stem cell grafts
• Apoptosis modification to prevent tumorigenesis
• Unraveling the hematopoietic stem cell niche mechanism
• Imaging of stem cell grafts post-implantation
• Silicon chip nanotechnology for stem cell niches

Outlook

Appendix: Commonly used abbreviations

References