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OREGON: OHSU Stem Cell Program Finds A Home March 23, 2004 Oregon Health & Science University's stem cell research program, now housed among several laboratories on Marquam Hill, will occupy a single floor in the 270,000-square-foot Biomedical Research Building now under construction. The multidisciplinary Oregon Stem Cell Center, the first of its kind in the Northwest, will move into its new digs after the building is completed in fall 2005. The center is funded by a three-year, $4.5 million grant from the Oregon Opportunity, the statewide, $500 million biomedical research funding initiative supported by public and private dollars. Three faculty members specializing in stem cell research will be hired during the next two years. The Oregon facility is one of only a handful of stem cell research centers around the country. Other sites include the University of Minnesota, Stanford University, and University of California campuses in San Francisco and San Diego. Launched in January, the center is studying cell and gene therapy as an alternative to organ transplantation for pancreatic and liver disorders, diabetes, cancer and a host of other human diseases. Its focus will be on adult stem cells. Its director, Dr. Markus Grompe, professor of molecular and medical genetics and pediatrics in the OHSU School of Medicine, said the center is a hub for all areas of OHSU's rapidly expanding stem cell biology program. It aims to maximize the potential of various stem cells as therapies for human diseases through basic research in stem cell biology and preclinical trials of therapies in animal models, followed by human trials. While the center's offerings will widen over time to cover other diseases, such as Parkinson's disease and diabetes, it will concentrate first on the liver and pancreas, Grompe said. "My idea is to focus on the liver and the pancreas, and focus on adult stem cells," he said. "Our research already is advanced in liver reconstitution by stem cells and the repair of liver disease. We're clearly identified as one of the leaders in that area." Dan Dorsa, OHSU vice president for research and professor of physiology and pharmacology in the School of Medicine, said stem cells hold promise for treating many disorders. As a result, OHSU has the potential to make "a very broad impact." Dorsa and Grompe hope the center bolsters the development of OHSU-born spinoff companies while enhancing the university's partnerships with local and national biotechnology firms. It also could make OHSU more of a target for federal grants. "There are very likely new industries that will be created by virtue of the new activity of the center," Dorsa said. The antibody core, for example, "will be attractive to commercialization." Dorsa believes the Oregon Stem Cell Center fits in well with the National Institutes of Health's "Roadmap" initiative, which strives to accelerate fundamental discovery and translation of that knowledge into effective prevention strategies and new treatments. "NIH dollars will be attracted by the stem cell center and the investments it will create," Dorsa said. "We think this one will be well positioned to compete for those dollars." SOURCE: Portland Business Journal, OR http://tinyurl.com/2fstn * * * New center at OHSU will study stem cells Scientists at the $4.5 million public-private venture will focus on the emerging and at times controversial field of research 03/26/04 ANDY DWORKIN Oregon Health & Science University is spending $4.5 million of a public-private fund on a new center for studying stem cells, a rapidly evolving area of medical research. Researchers at the new Oregon Stem Cell Center will focus on finding and purifying stem cells -- a kind of generic cell that can copy itself many times or change into other, more specialized cells. Scientists at the center will initially focus on adult stem cells, not those derived from embryos. They will study basic questions of how stem cells work and also try to create tools that other researchers pursuing stem cell projects could use. Although stem cell science is at an early stage, many researchers think the cells could someday yield treatments for a variety of diseases, including diabetes, Parkinson's and heart damage. "It's really an emerging field. It's just getting started," said Philip Streeter, an OHSU research scientist who will oversee two of three specialty "cores" in the center. "I personally find it very exciting that OHSU is getting involved in this." Stem cells derived from bone marrow have been studied for decades and commonly are used to treat blood and immune diseases, including leukemia. But research into all other kinds of stem cells is still new and generally has not yielded disease treatments, said Dr. Markus Grompe, who directs OHSU's new center. "One of the things we have to be aware of in the stem cell field is to avoid promising too much," he said. "My prediction is it will be, not five, but 10 years before this is going to pay off." Grompe added that embryo-derived stem cells are "not going to be a focus of the research at this stage." "The ethical concerns for me are such that I, in my own lab, won't do that," he said. But Grompe said "there is no policy at OHSU, nor will there be one" that bans embryonic stem cell research. So scientists connected to the center may someday pursue research using embryo-derived cells. Strict government rules limit federal money for research on human embryonic stem cells, but some federal agencies and private foundations pay for that work. Both adult and embryonic stem cells are unique in having relatively undefined roles. They can turn into other types of cells, unlike most body cells that are specialized to do one job, such as sending nerve signals. Adult and embryonic stem cells differ significantly. Embryonic stem cells are similar and seem able to become any one of the 200-plus cell types in the body. But adult stem cells come in several different types, each of which seems able to make a few kinds of specialized cells. Scientists can keep embryo-derived cells alive for years in the lab, producing masses of similar cells. But adult stem cells -- which can copy themselves for years in the body -- generally lose that ability when kept in labs. A modest start Grompe said the Oregon Stem Cell Center is starting with a handful of workers as "a very modest effort." Administrators decided in January to start the center and have ordered some high-tech machines. They found temporary lab space for workers. Grompe said he hopes to get the machinery running by summer. The center will move to fill a floor of the Biomedical Research Building under construction at OHSU. That building is slated to open in late 2005. Grompe also has money to hire three faculty members for the center. Five "core personnel" will do the center's daily work. The center's $4.5 million initial funding comes from The Oregon Opportunity, an OHSU fund to promote biomedical research. The fund includes $200 million raised by state-supported bonds and almost the same amount of private donations. The university is trying to raise another $100 million-plus in private money. One goal of the fund is to create research that could fuel private biotech businesses in Oregon, which OHSU administrators think their stem cell center can do. Grompe said private businesses already have expressed interest in the center's goals, though there is little to commercialize yet. Grompe also hopes to snag some of the increasing pool of private and public grant money available for stem cell research. The National Institutes of Health increased its funding for stem cell research from $387.1 million in fiscal 2002 to $521.1 million in fiscal 2003, spokesman Don Ralbovsky said. Each year, less than 5 percent of that money funded human embryonic stem cell research. In the past two years, increasing amounts of money and interest have spurred several universities to open stem cell research centers, including Stanford University and the University of California at San Francisco. Although Northwest professors study stem cells, OHSU's program appears to be the first regional center uniting those efforts. The OHSU center has three "cores," or areas of focus. One aims to grow, store and distribute various types of adult stem cells, which are rare and hard to find in the body. The center is seeking a surgeon to run that unit, Grompe said. Streeter will run the other two cores. One will focus on identifying and separating stem cells from adult tissues that contain many kinds of cells. The other will make antibodies that researchers could use to identify stem cells or separate them from other cells. Scientists also can use antibodies as tools for a variety of other research, because they connect with and identify specific bits of matter in the body, such as proteins. Grompe said he hopes the center will be able to offer extra goods and services to scientists outside the center, with "first dibs" going to other OHSU researchers. "This is a great example of how The Oregon Opportunity can be used to create new centers of excellence, which will catalyze OHSU's research," said Dan Dorsa, OHSU's vice president for research. Dorsa said Grompe was picked to lead the new center "because he is already recognized internationally as a leader in stem cell research. He was, and is, highly sought after for recruitment by other institutions." Andy Dworkin: 503-221-8239; [log in to unmask] SOURCE: Oregonian, OR http://tinyurl.com/2q * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn