Cell biology is a scientific discipline that studies cells " their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division and death. This is done both on a microscopic and molecular level. Cell biology research encompasses both the great diversity of single-celled organisms like bacteria and protozoa, as well as the many specialized cells in multicellular organisms such as humans, plants, and sponges. Tissue and organ failure, produced as a result of injury or other type of damage, is a major health problem, accounting for about half of the total annual expenditure in health care in the US. Treatment options include transplantation (human or xenotransplantation), surgical repair, artificial prostheses, mechanical devices, and in a few cases, drug therapy. Ultimately, however, major damage to a tissue or organ can neither be repaired nor long-term recovery effected in a truly satisfactory way by these methods. Tissue engineering is emerging as a significant potential alternative or complementary solution, whereby tissue and organ failure is addressed by implanting natural, synthetic, or semisynthetic tissue and organ mimics that are fully functional from the start, or that grow into the required functionality. A speciality of this book is that it contains a stepwise presentation is perhaps a little laconic, and this may make it more difficult to digest by readers whose interests lie outside the fields just stated. By way of compensation, however, this concentrated presentation enhances the value and interest of the book to the specialist.
