Stem cell research holds the promise of developing new therapies for a wide range of human diseases. Different methods to direct stem cells to become differentiated cells have been reported, suggesting that they might be readily employed in regenerative medicine. However, such therapies will not reach extensive clinical application, unless each step of their development is assessed in disease-specific contexts. For this reason, only the use of proper models of disease will allow the correct evaluation of the outcomes of stem cell-based interventions.

Currently there is a great need for investigations that focus on matching a stem cells source with a specific application, the handling of stem cells to become therapeutically relevant, and improvements on the reproducibility of biological materials intended for therapy or evaluation of the risk/reward relationship on therapeutic interventions. We invite authors to contribute original research articles as well as timely reviews centered on the applicability of therapies involving stem cells in models relevant to human disease.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Induction, isolation, preservation, and/or expansion of stem cells with therapeutic purposes
• Differentiation of stem cells as source of cellular therapies
• Quality control and production reproducibility of cells intended for therapy
• Bioengineering of stem cell-containing devices and methods for cell delivery
• In vivo evaluation of efficacy and/or safety of stem cell-based therapies
• Strategies to prevent tumor formation after grafting of stem cell progeny