“Okay, guys, find a seat.”

The condition of Yamamoto’s office in comparison with Rothman’s was as different as the men’s personalities. Yamamoto’s looked like a typhoon had passed through it. Books, journals, files, documents, papers lay everywhere, including on each of the two seats in front of the desk. Visitors took it on faith that Yamamoto actually had a desk as every square inch was under paper, including a mountain of academic journals positioned so that a curious passerby couldn’t see whether the doctor was sitting behind his desk or not.

“Just move those papers,” Yamamoto said, as Pia and Lesley Wong gathered them up from the chairs but searched in vain for a free surface on which to put them down. Yamamoto gestured to the floor, a suggestion the women took. He leaned his posterior against the front of the desk and folded his arms. “You could get a chair from the lab,” he suggested to Will.

“No problem,” Will said. “I’ll stand.”

“I thought it appropriate for us to do a small review and go over some introductory material so you people can better appreciate what you’re about to see,” Yamamoto said. “You are in for a treat today. I’ve gotten special dispensation from Dr. Rothman to show you our organ bath program, which has been kept a secret of sorts up until now. It couldn’t have been kept a complete secret as there are too many people working here, and we’re here in a very public medical center. Since the professor and I are close to publication, secrecy is no longer the issue it was since the university has already seen to it that the appropriate patents have been applied for. At the same time, we would prefer that you keep what you see today to yourselves. Deal?”

All three students nodded.

“All right, let’s start at the beginning. But I don’t want to make this a boring monologue so help me out! Somebody tell me what a stem cell is.”

The three students eyed one another. Will spoke up. “In simple terms it’s an undifferentiated immature cell that has the potential of becoming a differentiated mature cell.”

“Right on,” Yamamoto said. “An example is a bone marrow stem that can become an adult blood cell. These cells are often called adult stem cells. What’s a pluripotent stem cell?”

Lesley spoke up: “A stem cell that can turn into any of the three hundred or so types of cells that make up the body of a multicellular organism like a human.”

“Right on again. You guys are making this easy for me.”

Pia felt a wave of impatience wash over her. She was eager to see the organ bath unit. Had it been up to her, she would have preferred to forgo any review session.

“Up until four or five years ago, how were pluripotent stem cells obtained?”

“From blastocysts.” Pia spoke up by reflex. She wanted this little talk over with.

“Right,” Yamamoto said. “Blastocysts from fertilized eggs, meaning very early-stage embryos. Why was that a problem that led to serious delays in stem cell research?”