title: Embryonic stem cells: understanding their history, cell biology and signalling.
abstract: Embryonic stem cells offer enormous potential as a source of a variety of differentiated cells for cell therapy, drug discovery and toxicology screening. With the creation of human embryonic stem cell lines we now have a resource with the potential to differentiate into every tissue of the body. To fully harness this resource it is necessary to understand their biology. Here we give a background to their history, describe interesting elements of their cell biology and introduce the underlying signalling mechanisms that control their ability to self-renew and differentiate.
authors.affiliation: Stem Cell Sciences Limited, Roger Land Building, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JQ, UK.
authors.forename: Ruairi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Friel
authors.forename: Sjaak
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van der  Sar
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Mee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D053680:Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Receptor alpha Subunit; D018121:Receptors, Cytokine / Q000378:metabolism; D053606:Receptors, OSM-LIF; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: C507840:LIFR protein, human; D053680:Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Receptor alpha Subunit; D018121:Receptors, Cytokine; D053606:Receptors, OSM-LIF