Ann Parsons most recent book, *The Proteus Effect; Stem Cells and Their Promise for Medicine*, was a finalist for the *L.A. Times* Book Prize in the science/technology category. She is the coauthor of *Decoding Darkness; The Search for the Genetic Causes of Alzheimer's Disease*, as well as *Menopause*. From 1990 to 1998, she taught science writing in Boston Universitys graduate program in science journalism. Her articles have appeared in *The San Diego Union-Tribune*, *The New York Times*, *The Boston Globe*, *The Boston Herald*, *Harvard Health Letter*, *McCall's, Boston Review*, the journal *Cell*, and many other publications. A member of the National Association of Science Writers, she headed its New England chapter from 1995 to 1999. She currently resides in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

Dr. Laurence Dahron earned a master's degree in cell biology from the University of Rennes (France), and a PhD from the University of Poitiers (France). As a post-doctoral fellow, she studied chronic myelogenous leukemia in Dr. Calabrettas lab, at Jefferson University, Philadelphia (USA). In 2001, Dr. Dahron joined Dr. George Daleys lab at the Whitehead Institute, MIT, Boston, a pioneer in Human embryonic stem cell research. There, she studied the molecular mechanisms of human embryonic stem cell self-renewal. In 2006, Dr. Dahron moved to the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Technology at Massachusetts General Hospital to launch a hESC core facility. In July 2008, Dr. Dahron was appointed director of the new Harvard Stem Cell Institute iPS (induced pluripotent stem) core facility. She works with the leaders in the field (George Daley, Kevin Eggan, Konrad Hochedlinger and Chad Cowan) to establish new disease-specific lines for distribution to the International Scientific Community.

Paul Lerou, MD, is Instructor in Pediatrics (HMS) and Newborn Medicine (BWH) at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His research interests include derivation of human pluripotent stem cells and pre-implanation embryonic development. Specifically, he is interested in studying the maintenance of genomic stability in human pluripotent stem cells. His lab is developing both live and fixed cell imaging techniques to study mitotic progression. They are also collaborating with Andrea Ballabeni, post-doctoral fellow in Marc Kirschener's lab, to perform biomolecular analysis of the pluripotent stem cell cycle.