Handbook of Stem Cells: Edition 2

Anthony Atala, MD, is the G. Link Professor and Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Seventeen of his lab’s technologies have been translated to patients, including the first tissue-engineered organ for permanent implantation in a human. His research led to the discovery of a multipotent source of stem cells from amniotic fluid and placenta, advances in 3D printing of tissues and organs, and body-on-a-chip technologies. His work was twice listed among Time Magazine’s top 10 medical breakthroughs of the year, and he is a recipient of the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award. He has published over 900 journal articles, is the editor of 25 books, and holds over 250 national and international patents. Dr. Atala is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Robert Lanza is an American scientist and author whose research spans the range of natural science, from biology to theoretical physics. TIME magazine recognized him as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World, and Prospect magazine named him one of the Top 50 “World Thinkers. He has hundreds of scientific publications and over 30 books, including definitive references in the fields of stem cells, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. He’s a former Fulbright Scholar and studied with polio-pioneer Jonas Salk and Nobel laureates Gerald Edelman (known for his work on the biological basis of consciousness) and Rodney Porter. He also worked closely (and co-authored papers in Science on self-awareness and symbolic communication) with noted Harvard psychologist BF Skinner. Dr. Lanza was part of the team that cloned the world’s first human embryo, the first endangered species, and published the first-ever reports of pluripotent stem cell use in humans.