Contents -- Dedication -- Preface -- Introduction -- 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 -- #Stemcell social media -- The top stem cell journals -- Patient's guide to research papers: Be skeptical -- Be aware but wary of mainstream media articles -- Try to attend stem cell meetings -- Summary -- References -- 2 The Types of Stem Cells and Their Clinical Potential -- What Stem Cell Treatments Promise -- The Four Main Kinds of Stem Cells for Treatments -- Adult stem cells -- Fetal stem cells -- Embryonic stem cells -- Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells -- Summary -- References -- 3 Stem Cell Treatments: Applications and Obstacles -- The Key Ways Stem Cells Can Be Used as Medicines -- Cell therapy -- Immunomodulation therapy -- Secretion of trophic factors -- Drug delivery -- 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 -- Immunity issues -- Genome issues -- Epigenome issues -- Tumorigenicity -- Cell Fusion and Confusion of Cell Identity -- Bias -- Building Rather Than Burning Stem Cell Bridges -- Practical issues I: Cost -- Practical issues II: Timing -- What Really Happens to Transplanted Stem Cells: More Challenges -- Post-transplant of stem cells, we have no control of them -- Lessons from the dead: Transplanted adult stem cells generally fail to engraft -- Almost certain death awaits nearly 100% of transplanted cells.

Stem Cell Capsule -- Summary -- References -- 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 -- References -- 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 -- The stem cell membrane -- Going through the membrane into the cytoplasm -- The surprisingly powerful stem cell cytoplasm -- Getting to the heart of the matter: The nucleus -- A Day in the Cellular Life of an Endogenous Stem Cell -- The niche -- Leaving the niche -- My Pet Stem Cell: The Very Different Cellular Life in a Lab -- Who is going to feed the stem cells and what are they going to feed them? -- Who will clean up after the stem cells? -- Who will take the stem cell for walks? -- Where is the stem cell going to sleep? -- Who will take care of the stem cell when we are on vacation? -- How will you know if the stem cell is sick and what will you do about it? -- What are we going to name the stem cells? -- What exactly will we get out of having these stem cells? -- What Could Go Wrong in the Lab? -- The Black Sheep of the Family: Cancer Stem Cells -- Summary -- References -- 6 Aging: The Stem Cell Connection -- Stem Cell Banking: Another Way to Battle Aging? -- What types of stem cells are banked? -- The cases for and against stem cell banking -- Summary -- References -- 7 Law and Order Stem Cells -- US Laws and Regulations on Stem Cell Procedures -- Are Stem Cells a Drug? -- What are the arguments against regulating propagated stem cells as drugs? -- 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 -- The FDA needs more funding -- Summary -- References -- 8 Stem Cells for Profit: An Ethical Spectrum -- Having Our Innovation and Ethics Too -- Advanced Cell Technology -- Athersys -- Mesoblast -- NeuralStem -- The key, positive roles of investors in good citizen companies -- Academic clinical researchers -- The Non-Compliant, For-Profit Stem Cell World -- An Overview of Ethical Landmines in Stem Cell Commercialization -- Lack of Physician Training -- Stem Cell Tourism -- Stem Cells Go Global -- Patients packing stem cells? -- Call It Anything but Research: Avoiding Regulation -- Potentially Divided Loyalties: Profits Versus Patients -- Paying to be a human Guinea pig -- Priorities: Big-money investors over patients? -- Lack of Proper Informed Consent -- Self-Experimentation -- Recruiter-Patients -- Another Clinic Trick: Fake Patients as Recruiters -- Ethical Challenges in Stem Cell Social Media -- Stem cell facilitators endanger patients -- Recruitment of clients to other countries via social media and the internet -- Stem cell sockpuppets: Intimidation as a tactic to silence clinic critics -- Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) -- The Stem Cell Black Market -- Non-Compliant Predictions -- Increased patient lawsuits against non-compliant stem cell doctors and clinics -- A Deregulated Stem Cell Future? -- Summary -- References -- 9 Patient Bill of Rights and Guide to Stem Cell Treatments -- Advocacy -- Attributes of successful patient advocates -- Stem Cell Patient's Bill of Rights.

Article one: The right to truly informed consent -- Article two: The right to receive treatment by a trained provider -- Article three: The right to have your stem cells be prepared in a GMP facility -- Article four: The right to continuing follow up by the provider -- Article five: The right to ownership of your stem cells -- Article six: The right to expanded compassionate use for fatal diseases under appropriate conditions -- Article seven: The right to be in a clinical trial for experimental procedures -- Article eight: The right to not be charged for clinical trial participation -- Article nine: The right to full disclosure of anticipated costs -- Article ten: The right to be treated regardless of socio economic status -- An Insider's Guide to Stem Cell Procedures -- Ten things to consider before getting a stem cell procedure for yourself or a loved one -- Eight simple reasons to think twice before getting an unlicensed stem cell procedure today -- A reason some patients consider a high-risk stem cell treatment: The risk of doing nothing -- Summary -- Important Advisory -- References -- 10 Are We There Yet? How Stem Cells Might Work to Treat Specific Diseases -- Alzheimer's Disease (AD) -- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) -- Arthritis -- Autism -- Cancer -- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) -- HIV/AIDS -- Huntington's Disease -- Multiple Sclerosis -- Parkinson's Disease (PD) -- Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) -- Summary -- References -- 11 Stem Cell Cosmetics: More Than Skin Deep? -- An Emerging Billion Dollar Industry -- Stem cell creams -- Medical stem cell cosmetic procedures -- Recommendations from the leading plastic surgery associations on stem cell procedures -- Is fat the king of stem cell cosmetics? -- How are Stem Cells Isolated from Fat? -- Two fat acronyms: SVF and CAL -- Fat chance? Hurdles to clinical use of fat stem cells.

Stem cell facelifts -- Stem cell breast reconstruction and augmentation -- Stem cell procedures for baldness -- Summary -- References -- 12 Stem Cell Tests for Humanity -- Embryonic Stem Cells: When Does a Human Life Begin and Who Decides? -- Religious authorities -- Ethical authorities -- Doctors -- Scientists -- Legal authorities -- When Do Cells Become People and a Human Being's Life Begins? -- Before conception -- Conception -- Implantation -- Heart beat as the start? -- Human brain activity as the beginning? -- Survival outside the womb -- At birth -- Overview of ideas about when a living human being begins -- Emerging Ethical Debates in the Stem Cell Field -- IVF: "Cure" for Infertility, But Also Gateway Technology for Questionable Practices? -- IVF has created children with 3 genetic parents -- Creating More Genetically Modified Humans to PotentiallyTreat Mitochondrial Diseases: Is It Worth the Risk? -- Human Cloning and Its Technology -- Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) -- How iPS Cell-Based Human Cloning Could Work -- Phony Clone -- The Ethical Complexities of Human Egg Procurement -- Summary -- References -- 13 Getting Your Stem Cell Geek On -- Cool Stem Cell Ideas -- Organ replacement: The stem cell human body shop? -- De-extinction and extinction prevention -- Stem cell-produced meat: Show me the bacon! -- Zombie stem cells -- Stem cells in space -- Myths and Urban Legends -- Myth #1: There are stem cells in Pepsi TM -- Myth #2: Stem cells, when eaten, are an aphrodisiac -- Myth #3: Adult and autologous stem cells are by definition safe -- Myth #4: iPS cells eliminate the need for embryonic stem cells -- Myth #5: There is a conspiracy to kill adult stem cell therapies -- Myth #6: Embryonic stem cells come from abortions -- Secrets -- Secret clinic-patient confidentiality clauses -- Secret patient websites.

The cut-throat nature of the stem cell field.