Researchers Making Push For Portion Of The Pot
By Sharon Stello/Enterprise staff writer
Davis Enterprise, CA

November 7, 2004

Proposition 71, a $3 billion stem-cell research initiative approved
by voters last week, could help UC Davis establish a new program and
bolster efforts by a handful of UCD researchers already making
strides in the field.

Barry Klein, vice chancellor of research at UCD, said campus leaders
are beginning to discuss proposals for facilities and research
projects they will submit for funding.

Virginia Hinshaw, UCD provost and executive vice chancellor, said
details are still being worked out, but "we'll have an opportunity
and we expect to be competitive for research grants."

It's unknown when the first grants will be awarded, but the
initiative includes a quick timeline to organize the California
Institute for Regenerative Medicine - a new state agency created by
the proposition - and an Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee.

The institute will provide about $295 million per year, through the
sale of bonds, in attempts to spur stem cell studies in this state
after President Bush limited federal funding of embryonic stem cell
research in 2001.

Klein said he believes the University of California and UC Davis in
particular will make a big contribution to stem cell research, which
could lead to new treatments for a broad range of diseases like
Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, heart disease, diabetes or spinal cord
injuries.

"There really is a need," Klein said. "There's an opportunity to do
good things."

Klein said he believes UCD will stand out in competition for funding,
noting that the campus has some unique resources, including the only
School of Veterinary Medicine and Primate Center in California.

UCD also boasts a brand-new Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility
with state-of-the-art equipment as well as an entreprenuerial-focused
Graduate School of Management, which could quickly turn discoveries
into products that help patients.

Hinshaw said it's important to unravel questions about stem cells
because they show "great promise" for contributing to public health.

"It's a natural part of research to investigate and try to see what
you can learn about these cells," she said.

Stem cells are unspecialized cells that don't perform a particular
function but can reproduce over an extended period of time and, under
certain conditions, can be transformed into cells with specialized
functions. In this way, they serve as a repair system for the body by
replenishing other cells throughout an animal or person's life.

Adult stem cells come from organs and tissues including the brain,
bone marrow, blood vessels, skin and the liver, and are typically
limited to becoming that cell type.

Embryonic stem cells have the potential to develop into any of the
body's cell types. These stem cells appear in an embryo - a
fertilized human egg - five to seven days after conception. For
research, they are generally extracted from extra embryos donated by
parents who tried to conceive a child through in vitro fertilization.

Researchers hope to better understand and harness stem cell
capabilities to make medical advances.

"People are viewing this as the type of research and investigation
that needs to be done and I certainly concur with that," Hinshaw
said.

Before coming to UCD, Hinshaw served as point person for stem cell
research as part of her job at the University of Wisconsin, Madison,
where biologist James Thomson became the first to grow embryonic stem
cells, as reported in the journal Science in November 1998.

Hinshaw said understanding how a stem cell becomes a kidney or liver
cell, for example, is critically important to the potential
development of disease treatments. In the long term, Hinshaw
explained, stem cell research could also lead to replacement of
damaged tissue or organs.

And stem cells could be used to improve other types of research - if
stem cells can be manipulated to develop into a certain type of cell,
then drugs and other therapies could be tested on these cells rather
than on lab animals or people, she explained.

It's these types of possibilities that started medical school
professors Kent Erickson and Ralph Green thinking about forming a
stem cell biology research program at UCD.

"We felt this was such an exciting new area," said Erickson, chairman
of the cell biology and human anatomy.

He and Green, chairman of pathology, developed the idea for a
research group before Proposition 71 was introduced. Erickson said
"we would have gone ahead even if 71 hadn't come about" but the
initiative's funding may prove helpful in launching the new program.

"I think it's going to be great," Erickson said. "I think it will be
a great source of money."

Erickson said they plan to apply for funding to build a facility for
the new program, probably an add-on to an existing building. The
program would also seek research grants once established. Cost and
other details have not yet been determined.

The medical school already approved funding for four faculty
positions to start the program. Erickson said they are recruiting for
three positions. The application period closes in December and he
hopes to invite candidates for interviews in January and have them
working at UCD within a year, by January 2006.

Between the UCD campus and the UCD Medical Center in Sacramento,
there are about four researchers whose focus is on stem cell biology
and about 10 others who use it as a tool but don't conduct major
research in that area, Erickson said.

Mark Zern, director of the Transplant Research Program at the UCD
Medical Center, has conducted stem cell research for four years,
starting with mice and primates, and has worked with human embryonic
stem cells for three years with support from the National Institutes
of Health.

Zern's work focuses on trying to make embryonic stem cells become
liver cells, which he said could lead to liver cell transplants as an
alternative to whole organ transplants.

Zern, who is a liver physician as well as a researcher, said this
would be an important step because there are far more patients who
need a new liver than there are liver donors.

"This is a way to develop a line (of liver cells) to help people who
can't get a liver transplant," Zern said.

Zern said his group is probably the first to get human embryonic
cells to behave like liver cells, "but we're far from having these
cells in a situation where they can be used clinically."

He will likely apply for funding under the stem cell research
initiative, which he believes will serve as a shot in the arm for
California's economy.

Until now, some of the best work in stem cell research is being done
in Israel, Singapore, Korea, Sweden and England, he said. Zern
believes the initiative will lure back scientists who moved to other
countries with more lenient laws on stem cell research.

"This is going to reverse the brain drain Š some very good people
have left," Zern said.

The initiative, he said, "is a positive thing for the people in the
country and in California."

Within 40 days of the initiative's approval, chancellors from
University of California campuses at Davis, San Francisco, San Diego,
Los Angeles and Irvine, along with the governor, other officials and
agencies must each appoint a representative to serve on the 29-member
Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee.

Hinshaw said Claire Pomeroy will be recommended as UCD's
representative on the committee. Pomeroy, executive associate dean of
the UCD School of Medicine, has been named UCD's vice chancellor for
human health sciences and dean of the medical school effective Feb.
1.

Within 45 days, the committee must elect a chairman and vice chairman
and then a president to lead the California Institute for
Regenerative Medicine, which may employ up to 50 state workers.

Working groups will be formed to develop regulations for embryonic
stem cell research, evaluate grant and loan applications and make
recommendations to the oversight committee. Group members are not
supposed to have any interest in research they review.

The Institute will award $3 billion in grants and loans over the next
decade for stem cell research and facilities, funded through the sale
of bonds that will be repaid by the state at a cost of about $6
billion over 30 years, with payments averaging about $200 million per
year. The sale of bonds is limited to $350 million per year and the
annual average is estimated at $295 million.

- Reach Sharon Stello at [log in to unmask] or 747-8043.

SOURCE: Davis Enterprise, CA
http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2004/11/08/news/052new0.txt

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