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U.S. Lists Stem Cell Availability for Researchers Thu Nov 8 18:58:14 2001 GMT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. researchers who want federal money for working with controversial stem cells have more than 70 different lines to choose from, according to a list published by the U.S. National Institutes of Health on Thursday. The list of 11 different laboratories that have cells grown according to criteria laid out by President Bush earlier this year holds no surprises for scientists working in the field. But it marks the start of the official process of applying for federal grants for working with the cells. The list includes private companies and university laboratories across the United States and in Sweden, India, Australia and Israel. On August 9, after a lengthy and acrimonious debate among scientists, anti-abortion activists, medical research lobbying groups and politicians, Bush announced his decision to allow federal funds to be used for research on certain existing human embryonic stem-cell lines. The cells are taken from human embryos, typically created in fertility clinics for use in trying to conceive test-tube babies. Doctors make many more embryos using eggs and sperm than they expect to need, and the excess embryos are frozen or thrown away. These can be a source of the embryonic stem cells, valued by researchers because they have the potential to become any kind of cell in the human body. Researchers believe they can be a source of new tissues and even organs to treat diseases ranging from Parkinson's to juvenile diabetes. Opponents say as long as a human embryo is destroyed, their use is immoral. Bush said any stem-cell lines -- a line is a supply of the cells kept multiplying and growing -- that existed before his August announcement could be legally used so long as they had no potential to grow into an actual human being. The stem cells must also have been derived from an embryo that was created for reproductive purposes. The embryo must have been discarded by the parents, who must have given informed consent for the use, and without payment. At first Bush said 60 lines existed around the world that met these criteria. The new NIH list has 72. An NIH source said these all came from the 60 original blastocysts -- the very early embryos from which the cells are taken -- that Bush first identified. In some cases, the source said, there were multiple cell lines grown from a single blastocyst. Scientists who want federal grants to work with the cells will have until Nov. 27 to apply. The NIH source said no money would likely be approved until early next year. "The research community is quite excited and thrilled at being able to move forward," the source said. "It is great to be able to get past the debate and move into applications." Some of the labs that can supply cells are not yet geared up to mass-produce and ship them to researchers and will need some time to get ready to do that, the source said. The labs include Atlanta-based Bresagen Inc.; San Diego-based CyThera Inc.; ES Cell International in Victoria, Australia; Geron Inc. in Menlo Park, California; Goteborg University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden; the National Center for Biological Sciences/Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bangalore, India; Reliance Life Sciences in Bombay (Mumbai), India; the University of California San Francisco; Technion University in Haifa, Israel and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation in Madison. Privately funded researchers are legally free to use stem cells from any source they wish. Bob Martone [log in to unmask] http://www.samlink.com/~bmartone ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn