UCSF's Arnold Kriegstein, MD, PhD, director of the UCSF Institute for Stem Cell and Tissue Biology, was interviewed by CBS News' "60 Minutes" for a story on the promise of stem cells on Sunday, Feb. 26.
Kriegstein gave correspondent Ed Bradley a tour of a laboratory that UCSF is building with private funds to support new human embryonic stem cell studies. The 5,458-square-foot laboratory will replace a lab that could not be used for the studies because it contained equipment and utilities, such as electricity, that had been supported in part with federal funds.
Under current federal regulations, no studies involving the development of new human embryonic stem cell lines - those derived after Aug. 9, 2001 - can be conducted in lab space supported with federal funds. (Most university research labs are supported at least in part by such sources as the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.)
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| Arnold Kriegstein and Renee Reijo Pera in space being renovated to allow nonfederally funded human embyonic stem cell research. Photo/Jennifer O'Brien |
As correspondent Bradley noted as he walked through the space, the reconstruction of the lab will require the duplication of such equipment as "microscopes, petri dishes and refrigerators."
"Absolutely," said Kriegstein. "All the materials and supplies, all the consumable materials - everything that's involved in any of this work - needs to be paid for through private funds."
It is one of the problems researchers face, said Kriegstein. "It's very costly and it's time-consuming, and it has been slowing down progress in the field," he said.
As Kriegstein explained to Bradley, he is working to raise $5 million to support the renovation.
The laboratory space will house the UCSF Human Embryonic Stem Cell Center, a component of the overall institute. The center is co-directed by Renee Reijo Pera, PhD, and Susan Fisher, PhD.
Scientists will use the space to derive, or obtain, new human embryonic stem cell lines. They also will resume somatic cell nuclear transfer, or "therapeutic cloning," studies, which UCSF pioneered in 1999.
The goal of these studies is to carry out the basic research needed to lay the foundation for developing therapies that could someday be used to treat such diseases and disorders as heart disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, spinal cord injury and cancer.
The work will build on current efforts underway at UCSF. During the last three years, University scientists have developed 11 new human embryonic stem cell lines - work they have carried out at off-campus sites due to the federal restrictions. One team commutes 40 miles to Geron Corp., which provides part of the team's funding. The other team carries out the work in rented laboratory space off University property.
The decision to move the work off campus followed President George W. Bush's announcement on Aug. 9, 2001, that federal funds could only be used for studies of human embryonic stem cell lines that had been established by that date. UCSF and University of Wisconsin were the only two US universities that had established cell lines by the cutoff date. These cell lines are included in the National Institutes of Health Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry, and have been shared with scientists in labs throughout the world.
However, stem cell scientists consider the number of stem cell lines in the NIH Registry insufficient to support the studies needed to move the field forward. (Of the 64 lines originally said to be in the registry, only a handful have proven useful.)
The UCSF Institute for Stem Cell and Tissue Biology is one of the largest and most comprehensive stem cell programs in the United States. It encompasses some 60 labs carrying out studies aimed at gaining fundamental information about human development, with an eye toward illuminating and treating a broad range of diseases and disorders, from heart disease and diabetes to birth defects, osteoporosis and cancer. Studies are conducted in adult and embryonic stem cells and in related cells of humans, mice, zebrafish and worms.
The framework of the institute is designed to allow basic researchers to drive their explorations toward investigations with their clinical research colleagues at UCSF Medical Center, which has the medical and intellectual infrastructure to translate discoveries into therapeutic strategies.
UCSF has been a leader in the stem cell field from the outset. Gail Martin, UCSF professor of anatomy, co-discovered embryonic stem cells in mice in 1981 and coined the term "embryonic stem cell." Since 1998, UCSF has also taken a lead in addressing the current and predicted ethical issues related to stem cell research.
The UCSF Institute for Stem Cell and Tissue Biology comprises the UCSF Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology and the UCSF Program in Craniofacial and Mesenchymal Biology.
For more information, see
UCSF and Stem Cells.
To read the script of the "60 Minutes" piece, go
here.
Source: Jennifer O'Brien
