antiquity
08-09-2002, 08:55 AM
Posted on Fri, Aug. 09, 2002
Intel chief donating to stem-cell research
LIMITS ON FEDERAL FUNDING LEAD TO PRIVATE DONATIONS
By Lisa M. Krieger
Mercury News
Going where the federal government has stepped aside, Intel Chairman Andy Grove has pledged $5 million to help launch a new embryonic stem-cell program at the University of California-San Francisco.
The money, the first step toward an ambitious $20 million fundraising goal for the university, will offer scientists unfettered access to this promising field of investigation -- and give UCSF's stem-cell programs a competitive boost in the hottest new field in biomedicine.
In making such a large public donation, Grove joins the growing ranks of those who have grown impatient with federal reluctance to support research in this controversial field. The contribution will also bolster stem-cell work at a university that was an early leader in the field, but which has been buffeted by federal restrictions, the need to move some of its work off campus and the loss of a leading scientist.
Controversial because the cells are derived from 2-week-old embryos, such research is under strict federal funding limits. But these translucent cells also offer hope in the treatment of ailments such as diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.
``It's a great thing,'' said Paul Berg, a cancer researcher and Nobel laureate at Stanford University and a critic of federal policy. ``Private money is the only way things are going to happen.''
Some conservatives and religious leaders are against the research, because removing stem cells requires killing 2-week-old human embryos.
The strict limits on federal funding for stem-cell work -- which allow federal money to be spent only on research that uses a sanctioned group of cell cultures -- has had a chilling effect on the field. It is estimated that only five colonies of federally-approved embryo cells are readily available to scientists through the National Institutes of Health Stem Cell Registry -- not enough, scientists say, to provide a broad basis for research.
Celebrities Michael J. Fox, Christopher Reeve and film director and producer Jerry Zucker have all contributed money in an effort to move the field forward.
``There is the growing perception that the NIH is asleep and private money is the only way to move the science forward,'' said Dr. Thomas Okarma, geneticist, president and CEO of the Menlo Park-based biotech company Geron, a pioneer in private stem-cell research.
University researchers can go beyond the federal strictures -- as long as they do so with private money.
Much of the new Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Program will be devoted to studies in animal cells, not human, said UCSF spokeswoman Jennifer O'Brien. The human cells used in the program will come from two sources. Either they will be purchased through the NIH registry or derived from embryos discarded at fertility clinics.
Grove's so-called ``Stem Cell Challenge'' will fuel the new UCSF Stem Cell Discovery Fund, created to support the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Program. Grove will match every gift of $50,000 to $500,000.
``UCSF is primed to make headway in the field of human embryonic stem-cell research,'' said Grove in a prepared statement. ``The campus's contribution to the field has already been significant.''
Grove, who in 1995 was treated for cancer at the university, called it ``one of the country's leading biomedical research universities and medical center.''
Since his diagnosis and cure, disease research and support has become his avocation. Grove has pushed for several Intel initiatives in the field, such as conferences to expand the use of computers in research.
UCSF was one of the first universities to explore embryonic stem-cell research in the early 1980s.
But the university's program suffered a setback last year when leading stem-cell scientist Roger Pedersen left UCSF for England, where he wouldn't face limits on his work. To continue its research outside the federal guidelines, the school has moved one of its labs, funded entirely with private money, off campus.
At Stanford University, Netscape founder Jim Clark pledged a $150 million gift in 1999 for biomedical research. But last September, he withheld $60 million of the gift to protest the federal limits on human embryonic stem-cell research and cloning in hopes of persuading the administration to change its policy. Clark's action is thought to have hampered the school's efforts to become a bigger player in the field.
Don C. Reed of Fremont, a stem-cell activist whose son, Roman, suffers a spinal cord injury, welcomed the news of Grove's donation, saying ``stem-cell research is the opening of a new dawn, which will enrich the lives of everyone.''
``It's a good start,'' he said.
``But can it fund the $400 million it costs to bring a stem cell-derived cure to the market? No way.''
Intel chief donating to stem-cell research
LIMITS ON FEDERAL FUNDING LEAD TO PRIVATE DONATIONS
By Lisa M. Krieger
Mercury News
Going where the federal government has stepped aside, Intel Chairman Andy Grove has pledged $5 million to help launch a new embryonic stem-cell program at the University of California-San Francisco.
The money, the first step toward an ambitious $20 million fundraising goal for the university, will offer scientists unfettered access to this promising field of investigation -- and give UCSF's stem-cell programs a competitive boost in the hottest new field in biomedicine.
In making such a large public donation, Grove joins the growing ranks of those who have grown impatient with federal reluctance to support research in this controversial field. The contribution will also bolster stem-cell work at a university that was an early leader in the field, but which has been buffeted by federal restrictions, the need to move some of its work off campus and the loss of a leading scientist.
Controversial because the cells are derived from 2-week-old embryos, such research is under strict federal funding limits. But these translucent cells also offer hope in the treatment of ailments such as diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.
``It's a great thing,'' said Paul Berg, a cancer researcher and Nobel laureate at Stanford University and a critic of federal policy. ``Private money is the only way things are going to happen.''
Some conservatives and religious leaders are against the research, because removing stem cells requires killing 2-week-old human embryos.
The strict limits on federal funding for stem-cell work -- which allow federal money to be spent only on research that uses a sanctioned group of cell cultures -- has had a chilling effect on the field. It is estimated that only five colonies of federally-approved embryo cells are readily available to scientists through the National Institutes of Health Stem Cell Registry -- not enough, scientists say, to provide a broad basis for research.
Celebrities Michael J. Fox, Christopher Reeve and film director and producer Jerry Zucker have all contributed money in an effort to move the field forward.
``There is the growing perception that the NIH is asleep and private money is the only way to move the science forward,'' said Dr. Thomas Okarma, geneticist, president and CEO of the Menlo Park-based biotech company Geron, a pioneer in private stem-cell research.
University researchers can go beyond the federal strictures -- as long as they do so with private money.
Much of the new Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Program will be devoted to studies in animal cells, not human, said UCSF spokeswoman Jennifer O'Brien. The human cells used in the program will come from two sources. Either they will be purchased through the NIH registry or derived from embryos discarded at fertility clinics.
Grove's so-called ``Stem Cell Challenge'' will fuel the new UCSF Stem Cell Discovery Fund, created to support the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Program. Grove will match every gift of $50,000 to $500,000.
``UCSF is primed to make headway in the field of human embryonic stem-cell research,'' said Grove in a prepared statement. ``The campus's contribution to the field has already been significant.''
Grove, who in 1995 was treated for cancer at the university, called it ``one of the country's leading biomedical research universities and medical center.''
Since his diagnosis and cure, disease research and support has become his avocation. Grove has pushed for several Intel initiatives in the field, such as conferences to expand the use of computers in research.
UCSF was one of the first universities to explore embryonic stem-cell research in the early 1980s.
But the university's program suffered a setback last year when leading stem-cell scientist Roger Pedersen left UCSF for England, where he wouldn't face limits on his work. To continue its research outside the federal guidelines, the school has moved one of its labs, funded entirely with private money, off campus.
At Stanford University, Netscape founder Jim Clark pledged a $150 million gift in 1999 for biomedical research. But last September, he withheld $60 million of the gift to protest the federal limits on human embryonic stem-cell research and cloning in hopes of persuading the administration to change its policy. Clark's action is thought to have hampered the school's efforts to become a bigger player in the field.
Don C. Reed of Fremont, a stem-cell activist whose son, Roman, suffers a spinal cord injury, welcomed the news of Grove's donation, saying ``stem-cell research is the opening of a new dawn, which will enrich the lives of everyone.''
``It's a good start,'' he said.
``But can it fund the $400 million it costs to bring a stem cell-derived cure to the market? No way.''