In the last decade, technical improvements have changed the inventory of many research laboratories. New techniques and discoveries continuously give rise to observations that result in the de?nition of new research objectives. In the past, - search departments were clearly demarcated. Nowadays, technology that is shared by all lines of research stimulates convergence of research interests. This also - plies to cardiovascular research. Vascular occlusive disease is now core business for researchers employed by cardiology, vascular surgery, vascular medicine, - diology, cell biology, chemistry, physiology, and many other areas. Knowledge on actual research development is shared by researchers with different skills. It is sometimes dif?cult to acquire expertise when a researcher feels his experimental work could be improved by introducing a new research technique. In this book, the investigator will ?nd an overview of recent developments that are relevant for research in general but cardiovascular research in particular. Genomics, p- teomics, microarray, RNAi, stem cells, and progenitor cells are just some phrases that have become increasingly prevalent in literature in the last few years and that are recognized by many, but are fully understood by few. In this book, experts share the most appreciated new developments and techniques in cardiovascular research. We hope that this book will help the reader who is working in the ?eld of cardiovascular research to understand and critically appreciate current research, and that it will help improve the quality of experimental work. Dr G.