New Stem Cell Institutes
Two Institutes Renew Prospects for Stem Cell Research

By Whitney L.J. Howell

David Scadden, M.D., professor, Harvard Medical School and director of the MGH Center for Regenerative Medicine and Technology

During the 1980s and 1990s, factions from both political parties fiercely debated the right to an abortion, but the new millennium has a different hot button issue: stem cell research. The raging ethical battle has broadened from the termination of a pregnancy to the potential use of human embryonic cells to treat many debilitating diseases.

Within his first year in office President Bush outlined his stem cell policy to allocate federal dollars only to research conducted on the 64 existing stem cell lines already created by scientists in the United States and other foreign countries. Largely because of the restrictions, public funding for stem cell research in the U.S. institutions ground to a halt. This spring, however, three schools announced new ventures that could take stem cell research far beyond its current scope.

Harvard University unveiled its new, privately funded Stem Cell Institute (HUSCI) in April, and Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) revealed plans for the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey. According to officials with each new endeavor, the partnerships will be used to increase the knowledge base about the potential for stem cell research.

"We're not doing this because of the government's restrictions," said David Scadden, M.D., professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and HUSCI's co-director. "This is a great opportunity to make a difference in human health. We can come up with novel ways to stave off diseases or put them in reverse."

Although the Stem Cell Institute is still nascent, it already has 26 investigators as well as an executive committee that will help put many of the future programs in place. The goal is to double the number of investigators, Dr. Scadden said. Right now, though, the new institute is a "virtual center," having no building of its own. Another goal is to give the institute and its scientists a physical home. Once complete, the building will be used exclusively for research funded by the private sector.

"We want to create an incubator for innovative projects in stem cell research and connect it to hospitals and patient care work," Dr. Scadden said.Harvard also wants to include experts from Massachusetts General Hospital and other area hospitals in the research mix as a way to ensure any findings can be practically appliedin a clinical environment.

High Ideals

The timeline for reaching these goals is not firm because the fund-raising efforts are still underway. Harvard scientists and researchers request financial backing on an individual basis, soliciting support from philanthropic groups, nonprofit organizations or other sources of non-governmental funding. Early reports in the Boston Globe pointed to a fund-raising goal of approximately $100 million, but Dr. Scadden said the true figure is still undetermined.

Despite limited financial recruitment efforts, Harvard has a clear vision of what kind of projects it will fund to exploit the potential of stem cell research. Projects will be divided into three categories: junior investigation, interaction between investigators and innovations.

Harvard will award junior investigations status to researchers new to the stem cell field in the hopes of "putting a measure of additional funding behind them so they can explore the initiatives a little more," according to Dr. Scadden. Interaction between investigator projects will focus on interdisciplinary activities that are not likely to receive funding through standard channels, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Innovation projects, however, will approach stem cell research in untapped ways and will likely be the most exciting, he said, calling them "high-impact proj-ects that will leap from the field and will be successful."

Along with new stem cell discoveries, Harvard will be an educational venture, offering undergraduate and graduate level courses on the intricacies of studying such a controversial scientific area. The hope is to train the next generation of stem cell researchers to continue the scientific investigations, Dr. Scadden said.

State Support

Ira B. Black, M.D., chairman, Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

The Rutgers University and UMDNJ Stem Cell Institute has a similar mission to Harvard's institute. But the fundamental difference is the source of funding: the New Jersey-based venture will be the first in the country to receive the bulk of its funding from state government. New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey authorized the allocation of $6.5 million this spring to support its creation and operation.

"The idea to enhance collaboration and cooperation between Rutgers and UMDNJ on stem cell biology to usher in revolutionary approaches to medicine caught the interest and imagination of the governor's office," said Ira Black, M.D., chairman of the department of neuroscience and cell biology at UMDNJ- Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. "The governor took up the cause and had a vision to create a New Jersey state-supported stem cell investment."Dr. Black is also the current director of the Stem Cell Center at UMDNJ and is the founding director of the new joint Stem Cell Institute.

Although the funding comes from the state government rather than federal agencies, Dr. Black is quick to say the institute will work diligently to abide by federal stem cell research regulations. Scientists will compartmentalize their work with different stem cell sets so that no work funded with federal dollars will be conducted or become intermingled with any research that falls outside of governmental restrictions.

Pairing the two universities will create a "marvelous powerhouse" to study different areas of life science, he said. The ultimate goal is to advance stem cell biology at the most basic level and apply it to bedside care while training the next generation of scientists and physicians.

Broad Scope

To reach this goal, the RU-UMDNJ institute will have a much broader scope than UMDNJ's current stem cell center. The new venture will take stem cell research out of the Petri dish and place it in an arena that combines basic biology and clinical medicine.

"We will be able to see how cells from an adult compare to those from a fetus or an embryo, and we will have the ability to see how they interact with different diseases, giving us the chance to determine which stem cell type is best with different diseases under certain circumstances," Dr. Black said. "We couldn't work on these simultaneously in a constricted area like the current center."

Dr. Black also said the institute would have the opportunity to compare human stem cells to those from animals, providing scientists with an even greater perspective and understanding of the unspecialized cells.

Like Harvard, the RU-UMDNJ institute has no permanent facility, but plans are in progress. Dr. Black projects completion of a facility in New Bruns-wick within three years. In the mean- time, scientists and researchers work in "temporary but functional scientific space," he said.

RU-UMDNJ institute officials are currently recruiting stem cell scientists and physicians from around the world, and the building, when completed, will serve as an exchange program hub. Future institute experts will use the space to express and share their ideas and project findings, Dr. Black said. Although the institute has not outlined any criteria for choosing which scientists to recruit, the goal is to secure 12 internationally recognized private investigators and their staffs.

"We are looking for the very best who have already made major contributions in this area," Dr. Black said. "But we are also recruiting junior scientists of unusual promise to ensure this is a forward-looking effort that will carry us well into the 21st century."

Recently, the AAMC endorsed a new National Academy of Sciences (NAS) initiative that would craft voluntary regulations for state and privately funded human embryonic stem cell research. These policies would apply to any projects conducted outside the jurisdiction of federal restrictions.

The NAS will form a committee of six to nine individuals from various scientific fields, such as cellular biology, reproductive medicine or bioethics. The committee will plan a public workshop to explore potential scientific and clinical uses for embryonic stem cells and the applicable risks. The group will also draft potential guidelines for the development and use of these cells. A specific timeline for the committee's work has not been set.

In addition, in late April, a bipartisan group of 200 House of Representatives members petitioned President Bush to relax the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, saying the current policy smothers a potentially wide and fertile development field. The AAMC also publicly announced its support for this effort.

Although Harvard, Rutgers and UMDNJ are breaking new ground by establishing stem cell research facilities, it does not mean the United States has a monopoly on discoveries made in this controversial scientific area. Earlier this year, a team of South Korean scientists made an announcement that could prompt American researchers to enhance their efforts. The Korean team revealed it had successfully isolated the first line of stem cells from a cloned human embryo. Even though the Bush administration has proposed a ban on human cloning, the interest still exists for U.S. academic medical centers to utilize the energy behind these potentially lifesaving discoveries.

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