Brain diseases can have a large impact on patients and society, and treatment is often not available. A new approach in which somatic cells are reprogrammed into induced pluripotent cells (iPS cells) is a significant breakthrough for regenerative medicine. This promises patient-specific tissue for replacement therapies, as well as disease-specific cells for developmental modeling and drug treatment screening. However, this method faces issues of low reprogramming efficiency, and poorly defined criteria for determining the conversion of one cell type to another. Cells contain epigenetic "memories" of what they were that can affect reprogramming. This book discusses the various methods to reprogram cells, the control and determination of cell identity, the epigenetic models that have emerged and the application of iPS cell therapy for brain diseases, in particular Parkinson's disease and Vanishing White Matter (VWM).?

The principle goal of regenerative medicine is the restoration of damaged, dysfunctional, or missing cellular tissue, up to and including whole organs. Growing healthy replacement tissue, in vivo or in vitro, plays an important role in anticipated therapies. To generate competent replacement material, scientists confront the fundamental issues of cellular identity and plasticity.

The basis of this book is formed by the theses of three talented master students: Stephanie Dooves, Dwayne Holmes and Judith Wagner. Their work discusses the recent advancements in the field of cell reprogramming. Although it is clear that we can produce pluripotent stem cells from differentiated cells, there are still a lot of unsolved issues. These issues include the efficiency and safety of reprogramming, the similarity of induced pluripotent (iPSCs) to embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and the epigenetic status of the cells. In the third chapter, the use of stem cell therapy for brain diseases will be discussed, with a focus on Parkinson's disease (PD) and Vanishing White Matter (VWM).