Hematopoietic Stem Cell Biology is the newest installment in the Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine series, to which it adeptly contributes as it offers a selection of carefully chosen topics so that the readers can understand recent advances in the field of the hematopoietic stem cells and hemato/lymphopoiesis. Each chapter is not a simple review of the topic, but rather an in-depth insight, which allows the reader to attain a multifaceted knowledgebase on hematopoietic stem cells. The chapters, which are authored by the leading experts in the field, cover characteristics of the hematopoietic stem cells at the cellular and molecular levels, offers details in regulatory mechanisms of differentiation mechanisms of hematopoietic stem cells to more mature blood cell, and discusses abnormal hematopoiesis that leads to leukemia. Hematopoietic Stem Cell Biology serves the inquiring minds of researchers, graduate students and post doctorate fellows as it expertly addresses the ever-growing field of hematopoietic stem cells and hemato/lymphopoiesis.

Zusammenfassung
In the summer of 1988, my developmental biology professor announced to the class that hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) had finally been purified. Somehow, I never forgot the professor's words. When I started working in Dr. Irv Weissman's labo- tory at Stanford as a postdoctoral fellow, I realized that the findings mentioned by the professor were from Weissman's laboratory and had been published in a 1988 edition of the journal Science. It has been over 20 years since the publication of that seminal paper, and since then tremendous advances in understanding the biology and maturation of HSCs, namely the process of hematopoiesis, which includes lymphocyte development, have been made. These discoveries were made possible in part by advancements in technology. For example, recent availability of user friendly fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) machines and monoclonal an- bodies with a variety of fluorescent labels has allowed more scientists to sort and analyze rare populations in the bone marrow, such as HSCs. All classes of hematopoietic cells are derived from HSCs. Stem cell biology draws enormous attention not only from scientists, but also from ordinary people because of the tremendous potential for development of new therapeutic application to diseases that currently lack any type of effective therapy. Thus, this type of regenerative medicine is a relatively new and attractive field in both basic science and clinical medicine.

Inhalt
Principles of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Biology.- Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Their Niche.- Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Somatic Stem Cells.- Developmental Biology of Mammalian T-Cell Progenitors: From Early Lymphoid Progenitors to Thymus-Colonizing Cells.- GATA1 and GATA2 Function in Hematopoietic Differentiation.- Role of the IL-7 Receptor in #x03B3;#x03B4; T-Cell Development from Hematopoietic Stem Cells.- Dendritic Cell Homeostasis: Physiology and Impact on Disease.- Wnt in Hematopoietic and Leukemic Stem Cells.