This book exemplifies experience across the globe in banking of cord blood, mesenchymal, embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells for clinical use from the United States, Canada, the European Union, Switzerland and Japan to Iran, India and Serbia. The concerns are similar regardless of stem cell type or origin. Implementing core values and common standards depend often on specific circumstances of political and economic setting, which makes flexibility as important as systematic planning. Banking of stem cells is not just building a repository and storing samples. The planning, design, construction and maintenance involve multiple skilled professionals. Stem cell banks are points where technology and medicine converge with ethics, laws and regulations. If properly designed and organized, their utilization will have a broad impact not only on the scientific community and medical professionals but also on the general public.

Dr. Dusko Ilic obtained his MD degree and BSci in Molecular Biology at the University of Belgrade, his PhD at the Tokyo University, Japan and he completed postdoctoral training at the University of California in San Francisco. Before joining Kings College School of Medicine in London, he held positions of Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of California San Francisco, Consultant at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco and as Director of R&D at StemLifeLine, a California-licensed stem cell company. Dr. Ilic's current research interests are human embryonic stem (hES) cells, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, and mesenchymal stem cells and their potential in drug discovery and cell-based therapies.

1 Setting Quality Standards for Stem Cell Banking, Research and Translation: The International Stem Cell Banking Initiative.- 2 The Challenge of Standardisation in Stem Cell Research and Development.- 3 Global Perspective on Cord Blood Stem Cell Banking.- 4 Stem Cell Research and Banking: Towards Policy on Disclosing Research Results and Incidental Findings.- 5 The Legal Duties of Stem Cell Banks with Regards to Stem Cell Donors and Recipients.- 6 European Regulations and Ethical Issues on Cord Blood Banking.- 7 Donor Recruitment and Eligibility Criteria for HLA-Homozygous iPSC Bank in Japan.- 8 Banking of Pluripotent Stem Cells: Issues and Opportunities from the NIH Perspective.-  9 Sibling Donor Cord Blood Program: Childrens Hospital Research Center Oakland and Beyond.- 10 Anthony Nolan Experience: Issues and Strategy for Cord Blood Banking from Ethnic Minority Groups.- 11 Establishment of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Banks in India.- 12 Stem Cell Banking in Iran.- 13 Stem Cell Biobanks and Long-Term Sustainability: A Swiss Working Model.- 14 Establishing a Public Cord Blood Bank and Regulatory Framework in Parallel: a Serbian Example.