This is a one-of-a-kind book: combining easy-to-understand science, in-the-trenches political warfare, and inspirational stories. It aims to give hope to individuals and families who suffer from chronic disease or disability; to point out how ordinary people can make an extraordinary difference in the battle to ease suffering and save lives through supporting medical research; to share in “people talk” some of the amazing progress already achieved in the new field of stem cell research; to show how even such a magnificent success as the California stem cell program is under constant attack from ideological groups; to offer medical research as a force for international cooperation; to suggest how cure research lessens the need for the mountainous costs of endless care.Unparalleled background: the author has been involved in virtually every important stem cell battle (state, national, and international) since embryonic stem cell research began. The author works closely with Robert N. Klein, sponsor of the California stem cell program, the largest source of such stem cell research funding in the world. In addition, the author is an award-winning teacher as well as writer, and seeks to entertain as well as educate. His book is not only substantive, but also fun.The book would be a treasured gift: for anyone suffering an “incurable” illness or who is a caregiver for a loved one; for a college student considering a rewarding career in biomedicine; for scientists who want to protect and enhance their research funding; and for anyone who wants to see government respond to the needs of its citizenry. Chronic disease and disability are a prison: cure is the triumphant escape — wheelchairs should be for temporary occupancy only.

The general scope of the book is the patentability and morality of human embryonic stem cell research in US, EU and China. The book observes fraudsters operate unsafe human embryonic stem cell therapies and officialdom turns a blind eye to the immoral human embryonic stem cell research in China. The book highlights that both patent control and federal funding control are inefficient and ineffective way to monitoring human embryonic stem cell research. The book finally proposed an approach for china to regulating human embryonic stem cell research-regulating research itself at the reconciled international regime. The potential reader includes academics and practitioners dealing with intellectual property, patent law and stem cell inventions. The topic discussed will also be interesting to a broad readership, including experts, regulators, policy makers and medical researchers in both ethical and legal disciplines in the field of embryonic stem cell research.

"Provides an understanding of the basic concepts in stem cell biology and addresses the politics, ethics, and challenges currently facing the field"--From publisher description.

Promising new developments in biomedical technology such as stem cell science are widely endorsed by governments keen to reduce spiralling healthcare costs, clinicians focused on patient care, and patients demanding revolutionary new treatments. Commercializing the stem cell sciences offers a comparative analysis of the commercial methods adopted in the global stem cell industries. It seeks to establish whether there is an optimum commercial model and to examine what emerging companies can learn from their predecessors. Following an introduction to stem cell sciences and the problems involved in their commercialization, the book begins with a discussion of stem cell treatments from a global perspective, and the role of innovation in the commercialization of biotechnology in general. In the second half of the book, chapters focus on the different strategies that can be employed and their relative risks and values, before a conclusion that looks at potential new developments in the field. - In-depth discussion of case studies of products undergoing development - Focus on commercial optimization of stem cell treatments - Analysis in a global context and covering a diverse range of countries

This book is a unique guide to emerging stem cell technologies and the opportunities for their commercialisation. It provides in-depth analyses of the science, business, legal, and financing fundamentals of stem cell technologies, offering a holistic assessment of this emerging and dynamic segment of the field of regenerative medicine. • Reviews the very latest advances in the technology and business of stem cells used for therapy, research, and diagnostics • Identifies key challenges to the commercialisation of stem cell technology and avenues to overcome problems in the pipeline • Written by an expert team with extensive experience in the business, basic and applied science of stem cell research This comprehensive volume is essential reading for researchers in cell biology, biotechnology, regenerative medicine, and tissue engineering, including scientists and professionals, looking to enter commercial biotechnology fields.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was created in 2005 by The California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act (Proposition 71) to distribute $3 billion in state funds for stem cell research. The passage of Proposition 71 by the voters of California occurred at a time when federal funding for research involving human embryonic stem cells was uncertain, given the ethical questions raised by such research. During its initial period of operations, CIRM has successfully and thoughtfully provided more than $1.3 billion in awards to 59 California institutions, consistent with its stated mission. As it transitions to a broadened portfolio of grants to stimulate progress toward its translational goals, the Institute should obtain cohesive, longitudinal, and integrated advice; restructure its grant application review process; and enhance industry epresentation in aspects of its operations. CIRM's unique governance structure, while seful in its initial stages, might diminish its effectiveness moving forward. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine: Science, Governance, and the Pursuit of Cures recommends specific steps to enhance CIRM's organization and management, as well as its scientific policies and processes, as it transitions to the critical next stages of its research and development program.

This book provides a detailed analytic history of direct legislation—the initiative and referendum—in California from its origins in the late nineteenth century to the present day. California was one of the first states to implement mechanisms for direct legislation, and these mechanisms have been used with growing frequency as the entire process has become professionalized (from signature-gathering through fund-raising to legal challenge and defense). The author studies this important political device in terms of voter interest and behavior, its role in public issues, and how it has affected the state’s politics and government. The book first analyzes how and why direct legislation came to California, seeing it as a typical example of the disconnected nature of progressive era reforms. It then studies selectively, from among the 300 propositions that have been on California ballots, those propositions that have been most relevant to the major issues of their time, have generated the highest levels of voter interest and participation, and have shaped the development of state politics and government. The author pays particular attention to the explosion of direct legislation, in frequency and consequence, since the Proposition 13 “property tax revolution” of 1978. He also describes how California’s contemporary direct legislation experience—from tax rebellion to harsher criminal justice to controversial ethnic issues—has had national ramifications. The book concludes with a careful analysis of the current state of the initiative and referendum in California: voter attitudes toward the process, its role as a “fourth branch” of government, and arguments for and against changes in the procedure. Based on extensive research in campaign documents, manuscript collections, the contemporary press, and other primary sources, the book also makes extensive use of voting data, public opinion polls, and official filings of campaign expenditures. All in all, it is the most comprehensive study ever made of a political process that is used today in twenty-seven states.

Despite its importance in the history of Ancient science, Menelaus’ Spherics is still by and large unknown. This treatise, which lies at the foundation of spherical geometry, is lost in Greek but has been preserved in its Arabic versions. The reader will find here, for the first time edited and translated into English, the essentials of this tradition, namely: a fragment of an early Arabic translation and the first Arabic redaction of the Spherics composed by al-Māhānī /al-Harawī, together with a historical and mathematical study of Menelaus’ treatise. With this book, a new and important part of the Greek and Arabic legacy to the history of mathematics comes to light. This book will be an indispensable acquisition for any reader interested in the history of Ancient geometry and science and, more generally, in Greek and Arabic science and culture.

Biotech Juggernaut: Hope, Hype, and Hidden Agendas of Entrepreneurial BioScience relates the intensifying effort of bioentrepreneurs to apply genetic engineering technologies to the human species and to extend the commercial reach of synthetic biology or "extreme genetic engineering." In 1980, legal developments concerning patenting laws transformed scientific researchers into bioentrepreneurs. Often motivated to create profit-driven biotech start-up companies or to serve on their advisory boards, university researchers now commonly operate under serious conflicts of interest. These conflicts stand in the way of giving full consideration to the social and ethical consequences of the technologies they seek to develop. Too often, bioentrepreneurs have worked to obscure how these technologies could alter human evolution and to hide the social costs of keeping on this path. Tracing the rise and cultural politics of biotechnology from a critical perspective, Biotech Juggernaut aims to correct the informational imbalance between producers of biotechnologies on the one hand, and the intended consumers of these technologies and general society, on the other. It explains how the converging vectors of economic, political, social, and cultural elements driving biotechnology’s swift advance constitutes a juggernaut. It concludes with a reflection on whether it is possible for an informed public to halt what appears to be a runaway force.