Chimera Research

This volume addresses challenging new questions surrounding stem cell-based chimera research. This book is organized into three parts: Part One provides readers with a summary of different human donor cell types. The chapters in this section discuss ways to evaluate new types of pluripotent stem cells; the derivation of naïve and primed pluripotent stem cells from mouse preimplantation embryos; and the ethical and regulatory complexities of informed consent for the procurement of somatic cells. Part Two discusses methods for generating chimeras. The chapters here look at chick models and human-chick organizer grafts; generating human-pig interspecies chimeras; and techniques for transplanting mouse neural stem cells into a mouse disease model for stroke. Part Three concludes the book with a look at ongoing ethical controversies and new scientific directions. Chapters in this part cover the ethics of crossing the xenobarrier; animal welfare; experimentation with spermatogonial stem cells; and cautious approaches to human-monkey chimera studies to further understand complex human brain disorders. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and thorough, Chimera Research: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for scientists interesting in using chimeras as a research tool while also taking into consideration their complex ethical scopes.

National, European and international concepts and strategies concerning the legal and ethical framework of chimera and hybrid research are still largely missing, even though they are absolutely necessary in order to use the potential of chimera and hybrid research effectively and efficiently for the benefit of science and society. The outcome of the CHIMBRIDS-Project successfully sheds light on the chances and risks of this research and provides legal solutions to existing problems in order to help decision-makers fulfil their tasks in an informed and efficient manner. This comprehensive volume details the complete results, contributed by 40 scholars from 10 member states of the European Union, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Switzerland and the US, with descriptive reports of the legal situation in specific countries and in-depth analysis of all scientific, medical, ethical and legal implications of chimera and hybrid research.

This text provides a comprehensive, up-to-date review of chimerism. The first part of the volume presents the causes of chimerism, specifically focusing on fertilization and early embryonic errors, pregnancy and multiple gestations, and transplantation and transfusion. The second part of the volume outlines clinical identification and consequences of chimerism. Chapters in this section focus on the effects of chimerism on testing in relationship determination and forensics, prenatal genetic testing and screening, and blood and HLA typing. This part also reviews new data concerning matching donors and recipients for transplantation, while outlining the risks of transplantation, such as graft-vs-host disease and passenger lymphocyte syndrome. Additionally, evidence on the role of chimerism in autoimmune disease and cancer is presented. Written by experts in the field, Chimerism: A Clinical Guide is a valuable resource for clinicians and researchers that will help guide patient management and stimulate investigative efforts.

In his 2006 State of the Union speech, President George W. Bush asked the U.S. Congress to prohibit the "most egregious abuses of medical research," such as the "creation of animal–human hybrids." The president's message echoed that of a 2004 report by the President's Council on Bioethics, which recommended that hybrid human–animal embryos be banned by Congress. Discussions of early interspecies research, in which cells or DNA are interchanged between humans and nonhumans at early stages of development, can often devolve into sweeping statements, colorful imagery, and confusing policy. Although today's policy advisory groups are becoming more informed, debate is still limited by the interchangeable use of terms such as chimeras and hybrids, a tendency to treat all forms of interspecies alike, the failure to distinguish between laboratory research and procreation, and not enough serious policy justification. Andrea Bonnicksen seeks to understand reasons behind support of and disdain for interspecies research in such areas as chimerism, hybridization, interspecies nuclear transfer, cross-species embryo transfer, and transgenics. She highlights two claims critics make against early interspecies studies: that the research will violate human dignity and that it can lead to procreation. Are these claims sufficient to justify restrictive policy? Bonnicksen carefully illustrates the challenges of making policy for sensitive and often sensationalized research—research that touches deep-seated values and that probes the boundary between human and nonhuman animals.

This Dictionary presents a broad range of topics relevant in present-day global bioethics. With more than 500 entries, this dictionary covers organizations working in the field of global bioethics, international documents concerning bioethics, personalities that have played a role in the development of global bioethics, as well as specific topics in the field.The book is not only useful for students and professionals in global health activities, but can also serve as a basic tool that explains relevant ethical notions and terms. The dictionary furthers the ideals of cosmopolitanism: solidarity, equality, respect for difference and concern with what human beings- and specifically patients - have in common, regardless of their backgrounds, hometowns, religions, gender, etc. Global problems such as pandemic diseases, disasters, lack of care and medication, homelessness and displacement call for global responses.This book demonstrates that a moral vision of global health is necessary and it helps to quickly understand the basic ideas of global bioethics.

This is the first book devoted to chimera states - peculiar partial synchronization patterns in networks. Providing an overview of the state of the art in research on this topic, it explores how these hybrid states, which are composed of spatially separated domains of synchronized and desynchronized behavior, arise surprisingly in networks of identical units and symmetric coupling topologies. The book not only describes various types of chimeras, but also discusses the role of time delay, stochasticity, and network topology for these synchronization-desynchronization patterns. Moreover, it addresses the question of robustness and control of chimera states, which have various applications in physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering. This book is intended for researchers with a background in physics, applied mathematics, or engineering. Of great interest to specialists working on related problems, it is also a valuable resource for newcomers to the field and other scientists working on the control of spatio-temporal patterns.

Exploring the Ethics of Organ Farming & Interspecies Chimera. An Overview. An attempt has been made in this overview to examine the ethical issues surrounding human-animal chimeras and their use in the production of organs for transplantation. Currently, there is a prodigious backlog of transplants in the United States. · The median wait time for an organ transplant is almost 5 years, and about 20 people die waiting on the transplant list every day. o This crisis has necessitated the development of new strategies to acquire organs for transplantation. Among these advances is the prospect of growing a custom organ for a recipient using chimeras. Chimeras are organisms made up of two genetically distinct types of cells. Chimerization can occur within a single species or between two different species. · The latter type has garnered interest among scientists as a possible method for generating organs suitable for human transplantation. The proposed strategy is to create a chimera from a non-human animal embryo, usually a: · pig, and · human stem cells. Eventually, after the chimera reaches adulthood, the stem cell donor will receive a transplant with a new, humanoid organ from the chimera. Naturally, crossing species and sacrificing animal lives for organ farming comes with some ethical baggage, but chimera research has been prominent for several decades and foretells a bright future. An effort has been made in this E-Booklet to inculcate medicos in the subject of Chimera Research, particularly how it pertains to organ transplantation, and spark healthy debate surrounding the ethics of this medical advance. …Dr. H. K. Saboowala. M.B.(Bom) .M.R.S.H.(London).

This book provides a sophisticated yet accessible account of emerging trends in stem cell research and their accompanying ethical issues.