Max
07-30-2001, 12:04 PM
Stem cell scientists at UW press on, despite debate
Associated Press
MADISON -- While politicians in Washington debate federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, scientists in Wisconsin are continuing to use the material in groundbreaking research.
"We're not waiting,'' said University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher James Thomson, who in November 1998 became the first scientist to grow human stem cells in the laboratory.
About a dozen UW researchers are continuing their research at two privately funded labs with money from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, other foundations, biotech firms, disease advocacy groups and drug companies.
The stem cells are at the center of a national debate as President Bush decides whether to allow federal funding for research that some scientists say could benefit more than 100 million patients with such disorders as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes and spinal cord injuries.
Some abortion opponents are against the research because the embryos would have to be destroyed to conduct the research.
While they debate the matter, Thomson has started growing new embryonic cells from scratch, to comply with existing federal funding rules in case Bush lets them stand. None of the existing cells would qualify.
Another UW scientist, Dan Kaufman, has grown blood "master cells'' from Thomson's cells -- an extraordinary feat that some experts say might one day provide a cure for leukemias and other cancers as well as safer blood for transfusions.
Isolating the blood master cell and getting it to grow and multiply in a lab dish has been the ultimate quest in hematology, said Richard Aster, a Medical College of Wisconsin professor and former president of the Blood Center of Southeastern Wisconsin.
"It's something people have been trying to do for a long, long time, the Holy Grail in this kind of work,'' he said.
Scientist Su Chun Zhang has grown clumps of human nerve cells, a hoped-for treatment for spinal cord injuries and neurological diseases, and Jon Odorico, an assistant professor of surgery, just made a key discovery toward growing insulin-producing cells -- a potential treatment or cure for diabetes. Both recently submitted their work to medical journals.
When Thomson first isolated embryonic stem cells, the National Institutes of Health had not yet published rules for funding such research. Thomson's original cells, which were made from fresh and frozen embryos, now conflict with those rules, which require cells come only from frozen embryos.
Thomson said he is worried lawmakers will change the rules again, sending him back to the lab to begin anew.
He said stem cells are the discovery of a lifetime and will revolutionize scientific research.
"They're going to be used for a whole host of things we can't predict right now,'' he said. "We've committed to continuing regardless of what the decision is.''
__________________________________________________ __
Maksim (Max) Bily
mail to : imax@odyssee.net
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Associated Press
MADISON -- While politicians in Washington debate federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, scientists in Wisconsin are continuing to use the material in groundbreaking research.
"We're not waiting,'' said University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher James Thomson, who in November 1998 became the first scientist to grow human stem cells in the laboratory.
About a dozen UW researchers are continuing their research at two privately funded labs with money from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, other foundations, biotech firms, disease advocacy groups and drug companies.
The stem cells are at the center of a national debate as President Bush decides whether to allow federal funding for research that some scientists say could benefit more than 100 million patients with such disorders as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes and spinal cord injuries.
Some abortion opponents are against the research because the embryos would have to be destroyed to conduct the research.
While they debate the matter, Thomson has started growing new embryonic cells from scratch, to comply with existing federal funding rules in case Bush lets them stand. None of the existing cells would qualify.
Another UW scientist, Dan Kaufman, has grown blood "master cells'' from Thomson's cells -- an extraordinary feat that some experts say might one day provide a cure for leukemias and other cancers as well as safer blood for transfusions.
Isolating the blood master cell and getting it to grow and multiply in a lab dish has been the ultimate quest in hematology, said Richard Aster, a Medical College of Wisconsin professor and former president of the Blood Center of Southeastern Wisconsin.
"It's something people have been trying to do for a long, long time, the Holy Grail in this kind of work,'' he said.
Scientist Su Chun Zhang has grown clumps of human nerve cells, a hoped-for treatment for spinal cord injuries and neurological diseases, and Jon Odorico, an assistant professor of surgery, just made a key discovery toward growing insulin-producing cells -- a potential treatment or cure for diabetes. Both recently submitted their work to medical journals.
When Thomson first isolated embryonic stem cells, the National Institutes of Health had not yet published rules for funding such research. Thomson's original cells, which were made from fresh and frozen embryos, now conflict with those rules, which require cells come only from frozen embryos.
Thomson said he is worried lawmakers will change the rules again, sending him back to the lab to begin anew.
He said stem cells are the discovery of a lifetime and will revolutionize scientific research.
"They're going to be used for a whole host of things we can't predict right now,'' he said. "We've committed to continuing regardless of what the decision is.''
__________________________________________________ __
Maksim (Max) Bily
mail to : imax@odyssee.net
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit http://carecure.rutgers.edu/spinewire/index.html for best sci research info on Web
www.thinkwave.com (http://www.thinkwave.com) -Where Teachers, Students and Parents Communicate
Play International Red Cross Lottery online
for weekly jackpot of 20.000.000 Swiss Franks tax free...
http://www.pluslotto.com/default.asp?urlref=3300003298889
http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif