Preface

The skeletal muscle as an element of the movement system and as a highly differentiated tissue is in the focus of current scientific investigations.

Smooth muscle is found within the walls of blood and lymphatic vessels, the various tracts (e.g., gastrointestinal or respiratory), erector pili of skin, and iris of the eye. Intriguingly, the basic structure and function of smooth muscle cells is the same in different organs, but the activating stimuli differ substantially. Few events in science have captured the sustained in‐ terest of the nonscientific community as stem cells, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine is composed of attempts to change the course of chronic disease, in many instances regenerating failing organ systems lost due to age, disease, or damage. In order to complete tissue regeneration, various cells such as neuronal, skeletal, smooth, endothelial, and immune (e.g., macrophage) interact smoothly with each other. This book covers numerous topics such as stem cells, cell culture, biomaterials, epigenetics, thera‐ peutics, and the creation of tissues and organs. Novel applications for cell and tissue engi‐ neering including cell therapy, tissue models, and disease pathology modeling are discussed. This book also deals with the functional role of autophagy in modulating muscle homeostasis and molecular mechanisms regulating skeletal muscle mass. The chapters can be of interest to graduate students, postdocs, teachers, physicians, and to executives in bio‐ tech and pharmaceutical companies, as well as researchers in the fields of molecular biology and regenerative medicine.

> **Prof. Kunihiro Sakuma** Toyohashi University of Technology Toyohashi, Japan
