StemBook
StemBook is an online open access forum and discussion platform for the stem cell research community.
The project was originally conceived and launched in 2008 under the guidance of founding editor Douglas Melton, Ph.D., who is the co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. IOS Press acquired StemBook in 2017.
StemBook offers the following content, covering a range of topics related to stem cell biology:
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Chapters
- Both invited and noncommissioned reviews submitted to StemJournal are republished as chapters in StemBook. All submitted reviews undergo a stringent peer-review process. These chapters are indexed by PubMed and the content is available on the NCBI Bookshelf.
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Protocols
- StemBook publishes validated protocols in collaboration with Stem Cell COREdinates that encompass various methods to generate, edit and differentiate induced pluripotent stem cells into various lineages. New protocols, both commissioned and unsolicited, submitted for peer review and accepted for publication in StemJournal, are archived in StemBook under the appropriate topic in the Protocols section.
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Other content
- Journal Stream: weekly curated selections from the very latest stem cell literature
- Forums: Discussions with and profiles of researchers and laboratories
- Resources: Laboratory resources, funding sources, etc.
ISSCR Standards
The ISSCR Standards Initiative was launched in 2021 as an international collaboration to strengthen the pipeline of research and applications to human health. The initiative published Standards for Human Stem Cell Use in Research in 2023. This document identifies quality standards and outlines basic core principles for the laboratory use of both tissue and pluripotent human stem cells and the in vitro model systems that rely on them.
Open-access downloads are available for Standards for Human Stem Cell Use in Research along with a fillable Reporting Practices Checklist.