FROM: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
January 13, 2005, Thursday, Metro Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1B
HEADLINE: Researcher noted for stem-cell work plans to leave 'U'
BYLINE: Maura Lerner; Staff Writer
Dr. Catherine Verfaillie, one of the pioneers of stem-cell research, is
planning to leave the University of Minnesota to create a research center
in her
native Belgium.
Verfaillie (pronounced Ver-fye) says she is stepping down as
director of
the university's Stem Cell Institute in two years for personal reasons,
not
because of any controversy over her field of research.
"I've had my frustrations, but my decision has no ties to that,"
said
Verfaillie, 47. "I'm not running away from anything."
Verfaillie has been an outspoken defender of research on stem
cells,
including the most controversial kind, embryonic stem cells. She and
other
scientists hope that such cells eventually will be able to repair damage
from a
wide range of illnesses, from heart disease to Parkinson's.
Yet she is best known for her work on adult stem cells, which do
not
involve embryos.
She and her team were the first to show, in animal experiments,
that
stem cells from adult bone marrow could morph into heart, brain and other
cells.
Her departure is a blow to the university, which had fought hard
to keep
her from being lured away as her reputation flourished. "It's hard to
fill
Catherine's shoes," said Dr. Doris Taylor, a heart disease researcher who
came
to the university to work with Verfaillie. But, she said, "What Catherine
has
built here goes beyond Catherine Verfaillie. She's built a world-class
stem-cell
institute."
For the next two years, Verfaillie plans to divide her time
between
Minnesota and Belgium as she oversees the creation of a stem-cell
institute at
the Catholic University of Leuven, her alma mater. She said that she
still has
family in Belgium, and that her decision was purely personal. "It's the
right
thing for me to do for reasons that are outside my scientific work and my
professional life," she said.
Verfaillie originally came to Minnesota from Belgium in 1987 for
what
she thought would be a six-month research program. She ended up staying
for 17
years, making a name for herself - and the university - in one of the
hottest
fields of science. In 2000, she was named one of the nation's 10 leading
innovators in science and technology by U.S. News and World Report. And
she won
a prestigious endowed chair at the university in 2001.
Her work has been cited by both sides in the political debate
over
stem-cell research. In 2002, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., suggested that
her work
on adult cells proved there's no need to use stem cells from embryos.
But Verfaillie said it's too soon to know whether adult cells
will work
as well as embryonic ones. She plans to do both kinds of research in
Belgium.
"I think she's helped us to understand that we shouldn't be
closing the
door on other kinds of stem-cell research yet," said Dr. Frank Cerra,
senior
vice president for health sciences at the university.
Verfaillie plans to retain her ties to the university after she
leaves,
as a part-time faculty member and through a series of scientific
collaborations.
"I know - there's a big ocean in between," she said, "but e-mails go as
quickly
from here to Belgium as they go one floor down."
Maura Lerner is at [log in to unmask]
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