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In the summer of 1988, my developmental biology professor announced to the class that hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) had finally been purified. Somehow, I never forgot the professor's words. When I started working in Dr. Irv Weissman's labo- tory at Stanford as a postdoctoral fellow, I realized that the findings mentioned by the professor were from Weissman's laboratory and had been published in a 1988 edition of the journal Science. It has been over 20 years since the publication of that seminal paper, and since then tremendous advances in understanding the biology and maturation of HSCs, namely the process of hematopoiesis, which includes lymphocyte development, have been made. These discoveries were made possible in part by advancements in technology. For example, recent availability of user friendly fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) machines and monoclonal an- bodies with a variety of fluorescent labels has allowed more scientists to sort and analyze rare populations in the bone marrow, such as HSCs. All classes of hematopoietic cells are derived from HSCs. Stem cell biology draws enormous attention not only from scientists, but also from ordinary people because of the tremendous potential for development of new therapeutic application to diseases that currently lack any type of effective therapy. Thus, this type of "regenerative medicine" is a relatively new and attractive field in both basic science and clinical medicine.
List of contents
Principles of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Biology.- Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Their Niche.- Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Somatic Stem Cells.- Developmental Biology of Mammalian T-Cell Progenitors: From Early Lymphoid Progenitors to Thymus-Colonizing Cells.- GATA1 and GATA2 Function in Hematopoietic Differentiation.- Role of the IL-7 Receptor in #x03B3;#x03B4; T-Cell Development from Hematopoietic Stem Cells.- Dendritic Cell Homeostasis: Physiology and Impact on Disease.- Wnt in Hematopoietic and Leukemic Stem Cells.
Summary
In the summer of 1988, my developmental biology professor announced to the class that hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) had finally been purified. Somehow, I never forgot the professor’s words. When I started working in Dr. Irv Weissman’s labo- tory at Stanford as a postdoctoral fellow, I realized that the findings mentioned by the professor were from Weissman’s laboratory and had been published in a 1988 edition of the journal Science. It has been over 20 years since the publication of that seminal paper, and since then tremendous advances in understanding the biology and maturation of HSCs, namely the process of hematopoiesis, which includes lymphocyte development, have been made. These discoveries were made possible in part by advancements in technology. For example, recent availability of user friendly fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) machines and monoclonal an- bodies with a variety of fluorescent labels has allowed more scientists to sort and analyze rare populations in the bone marrow, such as HSCs. All classes of hematopoietic cells are derived from HSCs. Stem cell biology draws enormous attention not only from scientists, but also from ordinary people because of the tremendous potential for development of new therapeutic application to diseases that currently lack any type of effective therapy. Thus, this type of “regenerative medicine” is a relatively new and attractive field in both basic science and clinical medicine.
Additional text
From the reviews:
“The text is exceptionally well written by 23 contributors from Japan, the United States, France, and Switzerland–– all experts in their respective fields of hematopoietic stem cell biology and lymphocyte physiology. … Hematopoietic Stem Cell Biology will be most helpful and interesting to readers wanting a current update of the field. It is well indexed and well referenced, although it includes few figures, schemas, or photographs to help elucidate the text.” (Paulette Mehta, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 304 (18), November, 2010)
Report
From the reviews:
"The text is exceptionally well written by 23 contributors from Japan, the United States, France, and Switzerland-- all experts in their respective fields of hematopoietic stem cell biology and lymphocyte physiology. ... Hematopoietic Stem Cell Biology will be most helpful and interesting to readers wanting a current update of the field. It is well indexed and well referenced, although it includes few figures, schemas, or photographs to help elucidate the text." (Paulette Mehta, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 304 (18), November, 2010)
