Book excerpt: The 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Sydney Brenner (UK),H. Robert Horvitz (US)and John E. Sulston (UK) "for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death." Cell death is a fundamental aspect of embryonic development, normal cellular turnover and maintenance of homeostasis (maintaining a stable, constant environment) on the one hand, and aging and disease on the other. This volume addresses the significant advances with the techniques that are being used to analyze cell death. *Provides the necessary, trusted methods to carry out this research on the latest techniques. Once researchers understand the molecular mechanisms of the apoptotic pathways, they can begin to develop new therapies *Presents key methods on studying tumors and how these cancer cells evade cell death *Eliminates searching through many different sources to avoid pitfalls so the same mistakes are not made over and over