Human Embryonic Stem Cells

by Ann A. Kiessling, Scott C. Anderson

The Second Edition of Kiessling and Anderson's text, Human Embryonic Stem Cells, continues to address the social, legal, and ethical debates resulting from the Bush Administration's restriction of federal funding for embryonic stem cell therapy. The emerging field of human embryonic stem cell biomedicine crosses many disciplinary boundaries -- cell biology, reproductive biology, embryology, molecular biology, endocrinology, immunology, fetal medicine, transplantation medicine, and surgery. This single reference provides basic information from these multiple disciplines as it pertains to the science of stem cells.

280 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2003

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

After trying a few alternatives - this has been the best resource I've found for CLEAR information. I recently had to write some articles on this subject and with all the info out there - I was really struggling to find something like this book. It's a combination of a primer, a text book and an essay on the current political / ethical debate. It gives the overview I was looking for - and in some places I certainly got lost in the science - but there's a ton of diagrams and photos that are extremely useful. It's also heavily cited as well as having a thorough glossary.

With a quick look at Dr. Kiessling's private foundation website - I can see why this book is so well done, she's a veteran in the field, at Harvard and serves on a bunch of state advisory and ethics committees. And in addition to the science, the stem cells and society section breaks the debate into: religious, legal, ethical, scientific and future - and covers it all in just 16 pages - a very worthwhile section to read. I highly recommend this book.

[Chelsea Reed · Rating 2 out of 5]

During my search for the right books to support my thesis of embryonic stem cell research being effective I came across Kiessling's in depth review on the basics of embryonic stem cells. Ann Kissling puts the political problems about the research in her book with out taking a side, it was very hard to find a book about a controversial issues. I feel like there are many things about embryonic stem cell research that needs to be told to the world without an opinion so that the reader or person studying can make their on opinion.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding overview of the state of this research and its political impact.