edited by Ioannis Dimarakis (Imperial College London, UK), Philippe Menasché (Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, France), Nagy A Habib (Imperial College London, UK), & Myrtle Y Gordon (Imperial College London, UK)

Table of Contents (45k)
Preface (51k)
Chapter 1: The Meritocracy of Stem Cells for Therapy (50k)

This book is an impressive compilation of contributions on the hot topic of cardiac stem cell therapy from leading groups all over the world. In the assembly of chapters, a structured approach is adopted; starting from the clinician's perspective, all developments in both the experimental and clinical research areas are covered. This journey will take the reader from the bench-top to the bedside, with all chapters written by leading authorities in their respective fields, including data still in press with medical journals.

So, beyond being excellent as an overall update for scientists in the field of cardiac stem cell therapy, this book will likely prove an indispensable tool for every budding scientist considering a research project within this field.

• The Meritocracy of Stem Cells for Therapy (M Y Gordon & N A Habib)
• Overview of Adult Stem Cell Therapy in Cardiac Disease (G Nteliopoulos et al.)
• Embryonic Stem Cells and Their Therapeutic Potential (T Šaric et al.)
• Umbilical Cord Blood Cells for Cardiac Repair (E Maor et al.)
• Amniotic Stem Cells (P De Coppi et al.)
• Stem Cell Homing to Injury in Cellular Cardiomyoplasty (A Al Kindi et al.)
• A Molecular Imaging Perspective on Cardiac Repair with Stem Cells (K Bhakoo)
• Marrow Stromal Cells as Universal Donor Cells for Cardiac Regenerative Therapy: Fact or Fancy? (J Luo et al.)
• The Preclinical Basis to Find the Right Choice of Stem Cells for Cardiac Transplantation (M Siepe)
• Bone Marrow-Derived Stem Cells for Treatment of Ischemic Heart Disease: Background and Experience from Clinical Trials (K Lunde & S Aakhus)
• Skeletal Myoblast Transplantation for Ischemic Heart Failure (P Menasché)
• Myocardial Tissue Regeneration Observed in Stem-Cell Seeded Bioengineered Scaffolds (Y Chang et al.)
• Stem Cells and Heart Valves (D Gottlieb et al.)
• Potential Applications of Combined Stem Cell and Gene Therapy for the Treatment of Infarcted Heart (H K Haider & M Ashraf)
• Optimal Expansion and Differentiation of Cord Blood Stem Cells Using Design of Experiments (M Lim et al.)