Pancreas and Beta Cell Replacement is the inaugural volume of the Regenerative and Transplant Medicine series. The idea for this new book series spawned from the observation that the regenerative medicine field is progressing at such a fast pace that the way we currently think and practice transplant medicine is rapidly changing, faster than we could ever imagine. This series was therefore conceived to bring together experts from both the transplant and regenerative medicine fields, to share knowledge first, but also to introduce the transplant audience to the remarkable progress that has occurred in regenerative medicine over the past few decades. At the same time, we intend to illustrate to researchers and operators in the regenerative medicine field the numerous platforms that transplant medicine offers for the application of their technologies. To the publisher and the editors of this series and volumes there is no doubt that regenerative medicine will shape and define the future of transplant medicine.
This volume focuses on pancreas and beta cell replacement and illustrates how progress in biomaterial sciences, stem cell biology, gene editing, cell, tissue and organ bioengineering and regeneration, along with advances in xenotransplantation are revolutionizing the field. Written by the world's experts in the fields of pancreas, islet and xenotransplantation, as well as regenerative medicine, it represents a valuable educational tool for those in the fields of clinical transplantation, researchers in the field of regenerative medicine, transplant medicine, diabetes and immunology, as well as for medical and health science students, those in academia, the biotech industry and regulatory agencies working to advance the field. At the end of the book, it will become clear to the reader that beta cell replacement offers a vast array of platforms for the application of regenerative medicine technologies to transplant medicine.