AAMC Reporter: May 2009

Academic Institutions Gearing Up For Stem Cell Research

Medical schools and teaching hospitals around the country applauded President Obama on March 9 for overturning the federal ban on funding for embryonic stem cell research. Now that the celebrations are over, investigator teams at the nation's academic research institutions are undergoing the formidable task of preparing their institutions to request federal funds for stem cell research, or to conduct the research itself.

"This is tremendously exciting for the research community," said Tony Mazzaschi, the AAMC's interim chief scientific officer. "In the near term, embryonic stem cell research can produce a flood of new knowledge on cell biology, and it can point toward treatments for Parkinson's and diabetes down the road. But it is a tremendous amount of work for schools."

President Obama's executive order, "Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells" reversed an Aug. 9, 2001, directive from the Bush administration that banned federal funding for research on embryonic stem cell lines, or groups of constantly dividing embryonic stem cells, created after that date. The executive order requires the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to issue guidelines on the ethical means of procuring stem cells and conducting research with them. Final guidelines are expected by July 7, but draft guidelines released in April limit federal funding to stem cell lines derived from excess IVF embryos, and prohibit funding for lines derived from other methods (such as from somatic cell nuclear transfer and parthenogenesis). The actual amount of federal support available for stem cell research is uncertain, although the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act designated at least $200 million for a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiative known as the Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research, which could include stem cell projects.

The executive order is a particular boon to the field of regenerative medicine, which aims to treat injury and disease with specially grown tissues and cells, said M. William Lensch, Ph.D., a senior scientist at Children's Hospital Boston, a teaching hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School. During the Bush administration, the center, which conducts federally and non-federally funded stem cell research, had to separate the research endeavors so completely that they purchased two sets of everything—from lab equipment to pens and paper.

"President Obama's decision will make a big impact on a lab like ours," he said. "We can fire on all cylinders now. Grant money doesn't go as far when you have to buy two of everything."

While institutions may no longer need to be so cautious, they will need to invest in recruiting stem cell experts and training scientists with little experience in the field, Mazzaschi said. Because of President Bush's policies, few young investigators were drawn to study stem cells. But with the ban lifted, they will be much more eager to enter this research endeavor, he added. More established scientists may want to change gears and focus on stem cells as well.

"This field has been off-putting for people because of the restrictions," said Curt I. Civin, M.D., an associate dean for research and founding director of the new Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "But now my e-mail inbox is just full of young people who want to enter stem cell research."

For this reason, Civin said that the school will make it a priority to train scientists interested in stem cell research. The school is organizing guest lecturers and seminars on this issue.

On a national level, Mazzaschi said that he expects the NIH to fund stem cell research training grants. The educational programs, he said, could range from complete doctoral or postdoctoral training to short courses for experienced scientists on how to manipulate and use stem cells.

In some areas, broader, community-based education could be important. This is particularly true in politically conservative areas where people are suspect of stem cells. In extreme cases, institutions conducting embryonic stem cell research could become targets of violence. Mazzaschi pointed out that demonstrating the potential benefits of stem cells to community leaders and local media outlets can help in this regard.

Institutional partnerships are another way to make headway, said W. Robert Taylor, M.D., Ph.D., medical professor at Emory University School of Medicine and co-deputy director of the Georgia Institute of Technology-Emory Collaboration for Regenerative Medicine. In a partnership, each school's investigators can research an aspect of stem cells in which they have expertise, and then the institutions can combine their knowledge.

In the Georgia Tech-Emory collaboration, Georgia Tech has knowledge in growing cells, while Emory offers insight on how to translate the cells into clinical therapies. In the coming months, Taylor said Emory's priority will be to strengthen this collaboration and work with Georgia Tech to allocate resources.

The complicated nature of stem cells means that even collaborating institutions cannot investigate every aspect of regenerative medicine, said University of Maryland's Civin. Civin also pointed out that using embryonic stem cells in trauma care is an issue that could gain traction at the University of Maryland. Because the university is known for trauma care—it has the nation's only trauma hospital—Civin said it is likely that regenerative medicine and trauma experts could collaborate on ways to prolong the critical window, or "golden hour," for treatment of severe injuries.

—By Elissa Fuchs