Some years ago, Jane Nevins of the Dana Press pointed me in the direction of writing a book on stem cells. Then there was no turning back—all thanks to Jane’s contagious interest in the subject. I am deeply indebted, as well, to my editor Jeffrey Robbins at Joseph Henry Press who acquired this book, as he did my last one. It has meant a great deal to be believed in and to have the chance to write on subjects that are changing medicine. My agent Doe Coover, meanwhile, is a Rock of Gibraltar of good advice. She has a real knack for putting things in perspective.
The research for this book relied heavily on a great many scientists. Were it not for their firsthand accounts of their experiments and surrounding events, I would have been hard-pressed to gather and understand many essential aspects of their work. In particular, I owe a tremendous amount to Diana Clarke, George Daley, John Gearhart, Steve Goldman, Willy Lensch, Gail Martin, Ron McKay, and Virginia Papaioannou for patiently fielding my unending questions and generously giving of their knowledge and time. I am grateful as well for my conversations with four special gentlemen from Canada: Howard Green, Ernest McCulloch, Barry Pierce, and James Till. Each contributed largely to these pages, each heard from me a
lot, and each was a gentleman to the end. Several members of the Jackson Laboratory family were extremely helpful as well: Anne Wheeler and Roy Stevens, Barbara Knowles, Jane Barker, Joyce Peterson, Muriel Davisson, and librarian Douglas Macbeth.
My appreciation extends to numerous others, each of whom provided details and explanations over the course of many conversations and emails: Joseph Altman, Shirley Bayer, Marie Di Berardino, Seldon Bernstein, Hans Bode, Alta Charo, Charles Dinsmore, Martin Evans, Norman Fost, Fred Gage, David Gardner, Scott Gilbert, John Gurdon, Jeffrey Jones, Jennifer Kalishman, Matthew Kaufman, Mark Keating, Kenneth Kenyon, Diane Krause, Doug Melton, Éva Mezey, Beatrice Mintz, Douglas Powers, Thomas Reh, James Rheinwald, Pamela Robey, Stewart Sell, Michael Shamblott, Susan Singer, Evan Snyder, James Thomson, Catherine Verfaillie, Fran Verter, Irving Weissman, Michael West, and Leonard Zon. In addition, without the invaluable assistance of Fernando Nottbohm and Michael Young, the chapters in which they appear would have been thin and inadequate. Gratitude as well goes to John Hearn in Australia and Ariff Bongso in Singapore, both of whom were wonderfully helpful and added further dimension to the book.
Although Abraham Trembley was beyond reach, some of the most enjoyable and enlightening moments of my research were spent on the phone or in the company with his successors Howard Lenhoff, Sylvia Lenhoff, Hans Bode, and Richard Campbell. Thanks to Campbell at UC/Irvine, I even got to look through a microscope and know what it’s like to create two individuals from one with “a snip” of the scissors. (Trembley pulled off far harder dissections with a lesser lens.)
Stephen Mautner, Jeff Robbins, Ann Merchant, Dick Morris, Robin Pinnel, Rachel Marcus, and others at the National Academy of Sciences’ Joseph Henry Press work unceasingly to bring the inspiring world of scientific discovery alive for readers, and its authors are tremendously fortunate to have this roof over our heads. This
book also benefitted from Toni Gardner’s astute line editing; Paula Henry’s perceptive comments; Nancy Kurtz’s eye and Pentax; Lenny Golay’s enthusiasm; Rudy Tanzi’s emails and general support; and last but not least, Pierrette Coadou’s newspaper clippings and friendship.
Cheers to other special friends: Jessie Bethoney, Chris Brown, Madeline Drexler, Julie and Bayard Henry, Susan Hunnewell, Mary Myers Kauppila, Ted Kurtz, Sonia and David Landes, Jeff Munger, Bill Patrick, Bonnie Shershow, Betsey Vinton, Rob Whitman, and also my paddle tennis chums and Brooklin, Maine, family and cohorts. Love and appreciation to my mother Katharine Rodgers, Christopher Rodgers, Arrel Linderman, and Bob Linderman for bearing with my book work. You can call me in the mornings now.