Recent scientific breakthroughs, celebrity patient advocates, and conflicting religious beliefs have come together to bring the state of stem cell researchâ€"specifically embryonic stem cell researchâ€"into the political crosshairs. President Bush's watershed policy statement allows federal funding for embryonic stem cell research but only on a limited number of stem cell lines. Millions of Americans could be affected by the continuing political debate among policymakers and the public. Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine provides a deeper exploration of the biological, ethical, and funding questions prompted by the therapeutic potential of undifferentiated human cells. In terms accessible to lay readers, the book summarizes what we know about adult and embryonic stem cells and discusses how to go about the transition from mouse studies to research that has therapeutic implications for people. Perhaps most important, Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine also provides an overview of the moral and ethical problems that arise from the use of embryonic stem cells. This timely book compares the impact of public and private research funding and discusses approaches to appropriate research oversight. Based on the insights of leading scientists, ethicists, and other authorities, the book offers authoritative recommendations regarding the use of existing stem cell lines versus new lines in research, the important role of the federal government in this field of research, and other fundamental issues.

IN MEXICO...the charred remains of a medical clinic hold a clue to an experiment that can change the world. IN LOS ANGELES...a famous model, desperate to have a baby of her own, sends a detective to track down a legend...and a doctor missing for twenty years. IN BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI...a little boy plays with matchs and smiles. IN A SECRET LOCATION...the radical procedure begins, leading to a scientific miracle ...or the beginning of a nightmare. What does the next step in high-tech reporduction hold for humankind? In a tale as real as tomorrow's headlines, a rich, successful woman takes a desperate gamble to have a child. A young lawyer discovers a fatal flaw in an unethical experiment. And a new life begins -- a life that could signal a revolution in modern medicine...or the end of us all.

The Human Embryo in vitro explores the ways in which UK law engages with embryonic processes under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended), the intellectual basis of which has not been reconsidered for almost thirty years. McMillan argues that in regulating 'the embryo' – that is, a processual liminal entity in itself - the law is regulating for uncertainty. This book offers a fuller understanding of how complex biological processes of development and growth can be better aligned with a legal framework that purports to pay respect to the embryo while also allowing its destruction. To do so it employs an anthropological concept, liminality, which is itself concerned with revealing the dynamics of process. The implications of this for contemporary regulation of artificial reproduction are fully explored, and recommendations are offered for international regimes on how they can better align biological reality with social policy and law.

Draws on current scientific research and moral philosophy to shed new light on the debate over abortion and stem-cell research, and maintains that, from the moment of conception, embryos are entitled to the full protection of the law.

Thanks to enormous scientific efforts of the last decades, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and in vitro production (IVP) have now been introduced successfully in the practice of human infertility treatment and cattle breeding programs. This comprehensive book allows us to bridge the knowledge from both biomedical and veterinary fields of research. For the first time, studies concerning the human embryo as well as embryos from domestic species are brought together. The central theme of the book is "the assessment of mammalian embryo quality". In 15 chapters, written by well-known scientists, different aspects of the assessment of mammalian embryo quality are summarized. Non-invasive and invasive techniques to evaluate embryo quality are separated in two parts. In addition the book is provided with appendices on practical aspects and, thus, the book should be present in each laboratory for IVF and IVP.

During gastrulation, tissue layers are formed and the overall body plan is established. This book is the definitive guide to this vitally important period in embryonic development, providing authoritative and up to date information that includes the first comprehensive interspecies comparison, cell movements and patterning events, the roles of individual genes and gene families, and the evolution of gastrulation.