Foreword

As a woman first, and as passionate researcher second, I was always attracted by what did represent Marie Curie and her breakthroughs for the entire scientific world. One of my favorite quotes is:

“We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the radium a benefit for mankind”

Marie Curie

For me this means that as researcher we must find passion in what we make to trigger the “out of the box” thinking and to realize the unimaginable. When I was a student I meet two distinguished researchers Francesco Zinno, and Nicola Daniele whom introduced me with the main goals of the hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) manipulation processes. Cell therapy helped the mass implementation of one the breakthrough that changed the way of making medicine, the regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine involves the use of some of the most advanced therapeutic technologies of the 21st century. We can define this branch of medicine as methods to replace or regenerate human cells, tissues or organs in order to restore or establish normal function with the use of cell therapies, tissue engineering, gene therapy and biomedical engineering techniques [1]. The rapid pace of the supporting science is likely to see its application across ever increasing fields of clinical practice. This book’s main aim is to ponder on the importance of the regenerative medicine under the success that this area was given by stem cell research, and cell- and gene-based therapy. To start this journey, authors decided to give a general picture of the biology of human stem cells and their classification, to introduce the reader with their unique and extraordinary properties. After that, they continued with a typology-based structured analysis of the potentiality of these cells to upgrade the therapeutic treatments.

They explain better the actual use of the stems cells and stems cells-like for regenerative therapeutic purpose such as:

• Cell-therapy approaches in neurologic areas such as Parkinson’s disease;

• Retinal repair;

• Optic nerve regeneration;

• Reconstruction of the tissues in cases of burn;

• Bladder repair;

• Liver diseases;

• Angiogenesis and cardiac repair.

Authors continued with the researches that aim to reach and overstep the actual bounders of the “personalized medicine” to underline the stage of evolution and the infinite possibility of this new outstanding way of thinking on medicine. This book outline an attractive promotion of the present and future benefits of mankind from the discovery of stems cells and their use on the regenerative medicine. The more we know about stems cells the more we approach with the potentiality of human body to heal its self.

[1] “Building on our own potential: a UK pathway for regenerative medicine” A report from the Regenerative Medicine Expert Group