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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 * * *Murray Charters <[log in to unmask]> Please place this address in your address book Please purge all others Web site: Parkinsons Resources on the WWWeb http://www.geocities.com/murraycharters ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn