Powerful players rally to boost N.J. stem cell pursuits
Archived article from Dec 6, 2004
By Ashanti M. Alvarez, Joseph Blumberg
More than 300 scientists, pharmaceutical executives and venture capitalists gathered in New Brunswick recently to explore the future of stem cell research. They voiced support for keeping New Jersey at the forefront of this biomedical revolution while underscoring the economic potential of a new industry.
The New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology arranged an inaugural symposium at the Hyatt Regency hotel in New Brunswick Nov. 11, designed to bring together those who share the common goal of investigating these adaptable and versatile cells, in terms of both potential cures and as the basis of entrepreneurial enterprises.
“We are providing an opportunity for researchers to build collaborations among academic institutions and with biotech and pharmaceutical companies here in New Jersey,” said Sherrie Preische, executive director of the commission.
On many minds was the recently passed California referendum to support stem cell research with $3 billion in state funds over the next 10 years. The move has produced anxiety in some quarters with murmurs about a “sucking sound” signaling the possible migration of the best researchers to where funding is greatest.
“We really need to hold hands and talk to each other in order to move ahead of other states and countries,” said Rick Cohen of the Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden, which houses a large repository of human cells for research. Coriell has research partnerships with the University of Geneva in Switzerland and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, among others.
The symposium featured presentations from academic and private industry researchers as well as a keynote speech from Shirley Tilghman, Princeton University president and molecular biologist. Several days before taking his new gubernatorial post, state Sen. Richard J. Codey penned a letter to the conference’s attendees. “This will be remembered as an important moment of world history. New Jersey is the right place for this revolution,” Codey wrote.
Rutgers neuroscience professor Wise Young, chair of the Internal Scientific Advisory Board of the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey with institute Founding Director Ira Black of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), explained to the crowd the rationale for a business model for stem cell research in New Jersey, which is further along than most people think. “What most people are probably surprised by is there have been a number of clinical trials,” Young said, adding that the controversy surrounding embryonic stem cells should eventually disappear. “We should not be thinking about stem cells in terms of their sources. We should be able to make stem cells without having to use embryos. ... We are debating stem cells without data. We should allow science to go forward.” On Nov. 9 in Trenton, Young, Black and Preische briefed legislators and policy-makers on the state of stem cell research and plans for the new institute as part of a Rutgers seminar series on critical issues affecting the state and the nation.
At the East Brunswick symposium, Young said that the pharmaceutical industry, cradled in New Jersey, has faced a conundrum when it comes to investing in stem cells as drugs. Given the cost of putting a new drug on the market, companies are reluctant to invest in the research, Young said.
The companies need to change their perception of drug therapy, said Karen Chandross, head of Stem Cell Research Efforts at Sanofi-Aventis in Bridgewater. “There is nothing on the market right now that reverses disease pathology. Everything on the market is intended to reduce inflammation. Chandross said. “Our goal is to develop drugs that reverse disease pathology by stimulating or enhancing natural repair processes.”
James Battey, chair of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Task Force on Stem Cell Research, provided encouragement to the group, even in the face of President Bush’s edict restricting federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. He pointed to FY 2003 support from NIH of almost $25
million for human embryonic stem cell work and more than $190 million for nonembryonic research.
“We need to increase the human capital to move the science forward,” Battey said, calling for training in cell culture techniques and multidisciplinary teams of laboratory and clinical researchers.
Stem cells ordinarily are responsible for building and maintaining tissues and organs throughout the body, but based on their ability to morph, stem cells could be used to rebuild damaged or diseased parts of the body. Stem cells can be taken from early stage embryos, umbilical cord blood, bone marrow, adult brain and spinal cords, skin, blood, intestines and other tissues.
Dozens of displays filled the hotel ballroom, demonstrating the capabilities of scientific companies or depicting research projects under way at New Jersey institutions. Posters from Rutgers, Coriell and UMDNJ illustrated the transformation of stem cells into nerve cells and the underlying mechanisms – key to the development of treatments for neurological diseases.
Rutgers researchers looked at a nutritional supplement for weight loss known as CLA, and its effects on stem cell differentiation into fat cells. Rutgers scientists also considered stem cell therapies as a potential strategy in treating liver diseases and other groups from Rutgers and NJIT focused on the applications of biomaterials in channeling stem cell growth and movement.
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