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Top Government Scientist Quits Race to Human Stem-Cell Trials Stem-Cell Patient Roasts Lawmaker New Stem-Cell Methods Fall Short Scrutinizing a Stem Cell Trial Stem-Cell Firms Woo More Funding By Kristen Philipkoski| Also by this reporter 02:00 AM Apr, 10, 2006 Nearly five years after President Bush announced his restrictive embryonic stem-cell policy, the field is still feeling the fallout. The leader of the stem-cell unit at the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, announced today he will leave the NIH to join the private sector at a biotech company called Invitrogen in Carlsbad, California. Dr. Mahendra Rao says the president's executive order that embryonic stem-cell lines created after Aug. 9, 2001 are not eligible for federal funding, is the reason behind his decision to leave the government agency. He spoke to Wired News about young scientists' hesitation to enter the field, the danger of hyping stem-cell research, and why he's still excited about the future of stem-cell research in this Q&A with Wired News. Wired News: What made you leave the National Institute on Aging to join Invitrogen? Rao: In a nutshell, it was because of opportunity. The stem-cell program at Invitrogen is quite international in scope, and the regulations on stem-cell work in the United States, particularly for government employees, are more constrictive than I would have liked. WN: Can you talk about the restrictions that you faced while working at the National Institutes of Health? Rao: The biggest issue was the policy decision -- I work primarily on embryonic research and the big issue was that we could work only on a limited number of lines that had been derived before Aug. 9, 2001. The number of available lines is quite small and I felt we needed to be working on a larger number of lines -- at least on lines that carried certain characteristics that were derived subsequent to that deadline. WN: Some reports have said the quality of those lines is not great. Is that partly why you made your decision? Rao: I don't think one could say that the lines derived after Aug. 9, 2001 are in any way naturally superior to the lines derived before that. But all cells, when they're maintained in cultures for any length of time, can change, especially when it's a new cell and you don't quite know the best way to keep them going. I think many of the lines derived before 2001 have changed and this will happen with the lines derived later. WN: What role did stem-cell research play at the Institute on Aging? It sounds like they might have some potential as a fountain of youth. Rao: The National Institute on Aging decided that working on embryonic stem cells was important because embryonic stem cells are the only cells that don't die spontaneously. That means they don't senesce -- they don't age in culture. You can keep them going pretty much forever. That told us that there are cells within the human body that don't age or that carry the secret of immortality, and by comparing those cells with cells that do age, one might be able to identify the basic differences between aged and non-aging cells. That was part of my research program. WN: Will you continue to work along those lines at Invitrogen or will your focus change completely? Rao: It won't change completely. I will still be running a research program at Invitrogen. Invitrogen made a commitment in terms of acknowledging that this is a new field and you require research before you can produce products. However, when you work for a company -- just like when you get grants from an agency -- there are certainly requirements I'll have to fulfill. WN:: Your bio says you published over 50 papers on stem cells, so I assume that's over a period of possibly two or three decades. Were some of those papers on adult stem cells? Rao: Yes. WN: Can you describe how your field has changed since you started studying stem cells? Story continued on Page 2 » ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn