NIH Approves First Taxpayer-Funded Research on Embryonic Stem Cells

Scientists can start using taxpayer
dollars to do research with 13 batches of embryonic stem cells and the
government says dozens more cell lines should be available soon,
opening a new era for the potentially life-saving field.

President Barack Obama lifted eight years of restrictions on these
master cells last spring. But $21 million-and-counting in new projects
were on hold until the National Institutes of Health determined which
of hundreds of existing stem cell lines were ethically appropriate to
use.

 

"This is the first down payment," Dr. Francis Collins, NIH's director,
said Wednesday as he opened a master registry. "People are champing at
the bit for the opportunity to get started."

 

Thirteen stem cell lines - created by Children's Hospital Boston and
Rockefeller University - are first on that list. Another 96 embryonic
stem cell lines are undergoing NIH review, and 20 or more could get a
decision by Friday, Collins said.

 

And researchers have notified the NIH that they may apply for approval of another 250 stem cell lines.

 

"The field has been waiting with bated breath for this announcement,"
said Dr. George Daley of Children's Hospital Boston, whose lab created
11 of the newly approved lines. He has about 100 vials of cells from
each batch already banked and ready to ship to researchers around the
country.

 

The numbers mark a big change from the Bush administration, which had
limited taxpayer-funded research to about 21 stem cell lines, those
already in existence as of August 2001. Scientists say newer batches
were created in ways that made them far better candidates for
successful research. Indeed, only one of the Bush-era stem cell lines
is among the 96 now under consideration.

 

Wednesday's announcement means that researchers who were awarded $21
million in stem cell research grants earlier this year can start using
the approved lines immediately, projects that include work to one day
repair damaged heart tissue and grow new brain cells. Millions more in
stem cell money is due out later this winter, funds from the economic
stimulus package.

 

Embryonic stem cells can morph into any cell of the body, and
scientists hope to harness them so they can create replacement tissue
to treat, possibly even cure, a variety of diseases, from diabetes to
Parkinson's to spinal cord injury.

 

Culling those cells destroys a days-old embryo, something many strongly
oppose on moral grounds. But once created, the cells can propagate
indefinitely in lab dishes.

 

Federal law forbids using taxpayer money to create or destroy an
embryo. All the stem cell lines involved in Wednesday's announcement
were created from fertility clinic leftovers - embryos that otherwise
would have been thrown away - using private money. NIH is reviewing the
rest to see if they also meet ethics requirements for use in
taxpayer-funded health research. Among the requirements: That the woman
or couple who donated the original embryo did so voluntarily and were
told of other options, such as donating to another infertile woman.

 

Why do scientists need so many choices? It's not just to supply the
demand of a growing field. There's a lot of variability from batch to
batch in how the stem cells perform, Daley said. Some are better at
turning into blood-producing cells than muscle-producing ones, for
instance.

 

It has to do with the genetics of the original embryo, and probably
also with the recipe used to create and nurture the stem cells - an
environment that can trigger genes to switch on and off at different
times, explained Daley, who has government funding to study those
important differences.
Source:http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/57936