The University of California at San Diego is using stem cells to develop new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. Stanford University is researching both a cure for deafness and a cardiovascular tissue graft. The University of California at San Francisco is busy constructing a fate map of the human embryo.

These are only a few of an array of new stem-cell research programs in California, many specifically researching the controversial embryonic stem cells, all because of an innovative new grant program.

And New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has a dream that this can happen in his state sometime soon.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine will provide $3 billion in research grants over the next 10 years. When the program was held up by litigation, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger loaned his own personal funds to get it passed. The CIRM makes California the largest source of funding for embryonic stem cell research. There are smaller but similar programs in place in Illinois, New Jersey and Maryland, and none of them fund programs out of state.

So where can a research program in New York get funding? Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposed budget includes $100 million to begin a stem cell program. Next year, he will ask voters to approve a $2.1 billion program, called the Stem Cell and Innovation Fund, $1.5 billion of which will be spent on stem-cell research over the next 10 years. If it passes, researchers and universities – like Syracuse University – will be able to receive grants to begin stem cell research.

It is no mistake that the programs seem similar.

‘I’ve watched what happened in California,’ Sptizer said in a Los Angeles Times article. ‘Governor Schwarzenegger came in and tried some things. They didn’t work necessarily. He redirected the ship, and he seems to be doing stupendously now. There are many lessons you can take from it.’

The New York program is also running into some trouble, with the Senate pushing to cut the stem cell research budget in half, while the state government works to finish the budget before April 1.

Representatives for Gov. Spitzer could not be reached for comment.

‘I can see this becoming an area of research at Syracuse in the future,’ said Jeremy Gilbert, associate dean for research and doctoral programs at the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science.

According to Gilbert, in order for Syracuse to begin any research program, if there is funding available, first a group of faculty will discuss and select a specific area. They will then apply for the grant, and if they receive it, they will use research to answer these questions. Some professors would use a stem cell research grant to further their research in their current area, he said.

If Syracuse University began a stem cell research program, both undergraduate and graduate students would be able to participate, as they do with all current research programs.

‘If they’re graduate students, they would be working towards a degree, and they would be engaged in this research program as part of that degree,’ he said. ‘Undergraduates in our program have an opportunity to do a research program like a senior thesis. We can even have students come in the summertime and serve as a summertime employee. There are a lot of options.’

He added that students often participate to the point of co-authoring a publication, or presenting their work at a research meeting, providing the students with important training.

Gilbert also said scientists do not know what effect stem cells will have on the future, because it is such a relatively new field.

While New York’s stem cell research program is yet to be approved, the CIRM announced $75 million in new grants on Friday, following the $45 million approved in February.

According to Dave Carlson, CIRM’s chief communications officer, the grants in February were specifically for new research programs.

‘Some were just entering the field, and some were researching other areas and then had ideas to begin research for stem cells,’ he said. ‘For the March grants, we targeted more seasoned researchers.’

Tanya Girgenrath, a freshman biology pre-med major, researched embryonic stem cells harvested from mice, as part of a program at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute.

‘The reason that embryonic stem cells are so important is that while there are other methods of harvesting stem cells, embryonic cells are the most effective and hold the most promise,’ she said.

State-funded research programs are one way researchers try to get around the restrictions imposed on federal research grants. On Aug. 9, 2001, President Bush announced that researchers using federal funding couldn’t use new lines of stem cells. In June, the CIRM will use grants to create shared laboratories, where researchers can use new lines without jeopardizing their federal funding.

‘We are interested in providing a safe harbor, a place to work that doesn’t put their federal funding at risk,’ Carlson said.

The $3 billion will be given out over a 10-year period. ‘In 10 years, our goal is to have one gene therapy in Phase two clinical trials, and four or five others nearing trials,’ Carlson said.

Clinical trials occur in three phases. The first phase is to test the safety of the treatment and uses only ten human subjects. The second phase tests safety and efficacy on 100 subjects, and the third phase tests only the efficacy. Each phase takes a long time to complete, so that many of the trials will outlive the CIRM.

‘Considering that each phase can be three to five years, our 10 years will move very quickly,’ Carlson said.

The CIRM still follows strict guidelines governing the collection of stem cells by ethical standards. Donors can’t be compensated for donated egg cells, but research facilities can cover expenses, such as travel or lost wages, Carlson said.

‘This field is very promising, it has enormous potential, the trick is to harness it,’ Carlson said. ‘Embryonic cells were first harvested in 1998, and worldwide only 134 papers have been published on the subject. It is a field of research still in its infancy.’

On the Web:

www.cirm.ca.gov

Official site for the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine

Published on March 20, 2007 at 12:00 pm