Spinal Times: The Amy Alexander Foundation for Spinal Cord Injuries

From stem cell research to needle exchanges to medical marijuana and HIV/AIDS prevention, politics is getting in the way of science, according to a new book by a leading authority on health-care policy and women's health issues at Weill Cornell Medical College.

"Truth, Lies, and Public Health: How We Are Affected When Science and Politics Collide" (Praeger Press, 2007) is authored by Dr. Madelon Finkel, professor of clinical public health, director of the Office of Global Health Education and director of Cornell Analytics Consulting Services (CACS) at Weill Cornell Medical College.

"While political activists and the government can bring much-needed attention and money to a public health problem, politics can also poison science," says Dr. Finkel. "Over the last two decades, politics and ideology have increasingly hijacked and distorted science to serve its own purposes -- often ignoring incontrovertible evidence and preventing much-needed policies to improve public health."

The new book looks at how ideology affects research funding and explores the evolution of public health policies on contraception, AIDS, stem cell research, medical marijuana, needle exchanges, tuberculosis control, dietary supplements, silicone breast implants, obesity, vaccination and disease prevention.

Source: New York- Presbyterian Hospital

VCU Life Sciences Survey Reveals Widespread Support For Nonembryonic Stem Cell Research

The VCU Life Sciences Survey is the first poll to reflect the discovery reported internationally in November that human skin cells can be used to create stem cells or their near equivalents. When asked about the implications of this development, more than six in 10, or 63 percent, say that both embryonic and non-embryonic stem cell research is still needed, 22 percent say this development means embryonic stem cell research is no longer necessary. Thirty-eight percent of Americans report hearing about this research.

Three-quarters of the U.S. public supports stem cell research that does not involve human embryos. Majorities of nearly all groups in society, including those with differing beliefs about abortion and religious commitment, favor non-embryonic stem cell research, according to the survey released Wednesday.

The findings are part of this year's nationwide survey conducted by VCU via telephone with 1,000 adults nationwide from Nov. 26, 2007, to Dec. 9, 2007. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. The survey is conducted for VCU Life Sciences and the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences by the VCU Center for Public Policy.

Other survey findings: * Embryonic stem cell research. A majority (54 percent) of Americans strongly or somewhat favors embryonic stem cell research, a figure that has remained about the same since 2004. As in past surveys, opinion on embryonic stem cell research is strongly related to views on abortion, religious commitment and self-assessed knowledge about stem cell research. The partisan divide over embryonic stem cell research remains roughly the same since 2004.

* Personal impact of genetic research. Roughly four in 10, or 38 percent, report having a disease or medical condition strongly related to genetic factors or having a family member with such a disease or condition. Among this group, 57 percent say that medical research on genes and genetics has a positive affect on their life, 38 percent say this research hasn't affected their lives and 3 percent say it has a negative affect.

* Cloning and therapeutic cloning. Opinion about therapeutic cloning is evenly divided with 47 percent in favor and 47 percent opposed to using cloning technology for the development of new medical treatments. When cloning is not restricted to therapeutic purposes, about eight in 10, or 81 percent, oppose the use of cloning technology in humans. Opinion on both issues has been fairly stable since the first VCU Life Sciences Survey was conducted in 2001.

* Animal research. Medical research has long involved testing on animals. About six in 10, or 62 percent of adults, favor the use of animals in medical research either strongly or somewhat, while 35 percent are opposed.

* Morality and ethics in scientific decisions. A majority, 51 percent, of the public says that scientific decisions should be based primarily on an analysis of the risks and benefits involved rather than the moral and ethical issues involved (32 percent). At the same time, a majority, or 63 percent, agrees that scientific research doesn't pay enough attention to the moral values of society.

* What's the government's role? Opinion about the government's role in regulating scientific research is mixed. A 46 percent plurality says that government regulation is necessary to protect the public interest, while 39 percent say government regulation does more harm than good. At the same time, 57 percent of Americans disagree with the idea that government rules will keep us safe from any risks linked to modern genetic science.
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.

Competition for stem cell research funding surges

Baltimore Business Journal - by Robert J. Terry Staff
The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission has received 127 letters of intent from researchers vying to win $23 million in state funding. Commission officials said Wednesday that level of interest outpaces the 89 letters of intent received for the first round of funding. The commission, created to help spark growth in the state's life sciences industry, awarded researchers $15 million earlier this year. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the University of Maryland's flagship College Park campus dominated the first batch of grants.

The commission last month pushed back the application deadline to give the research community more time to file letters of intent, the first step in the application process. The letter of intent helps the commission plan for the scientific peer review it will oversee after applications for funding are submitted.

Of this latest batch of letters of intent, 46 were for what the commission calls investigator-initiated research grants, awards of up to $500,000 for scientists with preliminary data in hand. The remaining 81 letters of intent for exploratory research grants, designed for investigators who are new to the stem cell field. Those grants are for up to $100,000.

Applications are due Jan. 15. Peer review will take place in March and the commission will make funding decisions in April.

STEM CELL BREAKTHROUGH USES NO EMBRYOS

NEW YORK - Scientists have made ordinary human skin cells take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells, a startling breakthrough that might someday deliver the medical payoffs of embryo cloning without the controversy.

Laboratory teams on two continents report success in a pair of landmark papers released Tuesday. It's a neck-and-neck finish to a race that made headlines five months ago, when scientists announced that the feat had been accomplished in mice.

The "direct reprogramming" technique avoids the swarm of ethical, political and practical obstacles that have stymied attempts to produce human stem cells by cloning embryos.

Scientists familiar with the work said scientific questions remain and that it's still important to pursue the cloning strategy, but that the new work is a major coup.

"This work represents a tremendous scientific milestone — the biological equivalent of the Wright Brothers' first airplane," said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief science officer of Advanced Cell Technology, which has been trying to extract stem cells from cloned human embryos.

"It's a bit like learning how to turn lead into gold," said Lanza, while cautioning that the work is far from providing medical payoffs.

"It's a huge deal," agreed Rudolf Jaenisch, a prominent stem cell scientist at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Mass. "You have the proof of principle that you can do it."

The White House lauded the papers, saying such research is what President Bush was advocating when he twice vetoed legislation to pave the way for taxpayer-funded embryo research.

There is a catch with the new technique. At this point, it requires disrupting the DNA of the skin cells, which creates the potential for developing cancer. So it would be unacceptable for the most touted use of embryonic cells: creating transplant tissue that in theory could be used to treat diseases like diabetes, Parkinson's, and spinal cord injury.

But the DNA disruption is just a byproduct of the technique, and experts said they believe it can be avoided.

The new work is being published online by two journals, Cell and Science. The Cell paper is from a team led by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University; the Science paper is from a team led by Junying Yu, working in the lab of in stem-cell pioneer James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Both reported creating cells that behaved like stem cells in a series of lab tests.

Thomson, 48, made headlines in 1998 when he announced that his team had isolated human embryonic stem cells.

Yamanaka gained scientific notice in 2006 by reporting that direct reprogramming in mice had produced cells resembling embryonic stem cells, although with significant differences. In June, his group and two others announced they'd created mouse cells that were virtually indistinguishable from stem cells.

For the new work, the two men chose different cell types from a tissue supplier. Yamanaka reprogrammed skin cells from the face of an unidentified 36-year-old woman, and Thomson's team worked with foreskin cells from a newborn. Thomson, who was working his way from embryonic to fetal to adult cells, said he's still analyzing his results with adult cells.

Both labs did basically the same thing. Each used viruses to ferry four genes into the skin cells. These particular genes were known to turn other genes on and off, but just how they produced cells that mimic embryonic stem cells is a mystery.

"People didn't know it would be this easy," Thomson said. "Thousands of labs in the United States can do this, basically tomorrow."

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which holds three patents for Thomson's work, is applying for patents involving his new research, a spokeswoman said. Two of the four genes he used were different from Yamanaka's recipe.

Scientists prize embryonic stem cells because they can turn into virtually any kind of cell in the body. The cloning approach — which has worked so far only in mice and monkeys — should be able to produce stem cells that genetically match the person who donates body cells for cloning.

That means tissue made from the cells should be transplantable into that person without fear of rejection. Scientists emphasize that any such payoff would be well in the future, and that the more immediate medical benefits would come from basic research in the lab.

In fact, many scientists say the cloning technique has proven too expensive and cumbersome in its current form to produce stem cells routinely for transplants.

The new work shows that the direct reprogramming technique can also produce versatile cells that are genetically matched to a person. But it avoids several problems that have bedeviled the cloning approach.

For one thing, it doesn't require a supply of unfertilized human eggs, which are hard to obtain for research and subjects the women donating them to a surgical procedure. Using eggs also raises the ethical questions of whether women should be paid for them.

In cloning, those eggs are used to make embryos from which stem cells are harvested. But that destroys the embryos, which has led to political opposition from President Bush, the Roman Catholic church and others.

Those were "show-stopping ethical problems," said Laurie Zoloth, director of Northwestern University's Center for Bioethics, Science and Society.

The new work, she said, "redefines the ethical terrain."

Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called the new work "a very significant breakthrough in finding morally unproblematic alternatives to cloning. ... I think this is something that would be readily acceptable to Catholics."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the new method does not cross what Bush considers an "ethical line." And Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a staunch opponent of publicly funded embryonic stem cell research, said it should nullify the debate.

Another advantage of direct reprogramming is that it would qualify for federal research funding, unlike projects that seek to extract stem cells from human embryos, noted Doug Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Still, scientific questions remain about the cells produced by direct reprogramming, called "iPS" cells. One is how the cells compare to embryonic stem cells in their behavior and potential. Yamanaka said his work detected differences in gene activity.

If they're different, iPS cells might prove better for some scientific uses and cloned stem cells preferable for other uses. Scientists want to study the roots of genetic disease and screen potential drug treatments in their laboratories, for example.

Scottish researcher Ian Wilmut, famous for his role in cloning Dolly the sheep a decade ago, told London's Daily Telegraph that he is giving up the cloning approach to produce stem cells and plans to pursue direct reprogramming instead.

Other scientists said it's too early for the field to follow Wilmut's lead. Cloning embryos to produce stem cells remains too valuable as a research tool, Jaenisch said.

Dr. George Daley of the Harvard institute, who said his own lab has also achieved direct reprogramming of human cells, said it's not clear how long it will take to get around the cancer risk problem. Nor is it clear just how direct reprogramming works, or whether that approach mimics what happens in cloning, he noted.

So the cloning approach still has much to offer, he said.

Daley, who's president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, said his lab is pursuing both strategies.

"We'll see, ultimately, which one works and which one is more practical."

Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report from Washington.

BioTime hires new CEO, plans stem cell research

Emeryville's BioTime Inc. has named Advanced Cell Technology Inc.'s former president, Michael West, its new CEO.

The blood and surgical products designer said West will spearhead its entry into the field of regenerative medicine, in which it plans to develop human stem cell products for diagnostic, therapeutic and research use. West has served on the BioTime's News board since 2002.

The Emeryville company plans to seek up to $5 million in new funding to finance its operations and its entry into the stem cell field. It also plans to apply for research funding grants from private and public sources, including the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a public agency established in early 2005 with the passage of Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative.

Prior to joining BioTime, West served as director, president and chief scientific officer of Alameda-based Advanced Cell Technology, another local stem cell technology firm. Before that, West founded Menlo Park's Geron Corp., where he managed programs in anti-tumor therapy. He is an adjunct professor of bioengineering at the UC-Berkeley.

In its employment agreement with West, the company granted him a waiver from a provision in its code of ethics barring the provision of consulting services to a competitor or holding a financial interest in a competitor, so that he could continue to hold Advanced Cell stock and options he owns.

West can also provide consulting services to Advanced Cell and remain on its board of directors until Dec. 31, 2007.

New Rensselaer tools speed stem cell research

Engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed tools to help solve two of the main problems slowing the progress of stem cell research - how to quickly test stem cell response to different drugs or genes, and how to create a large supply of healthy, viable stem cells to study from only a few available cells.

The researchers have created methods to study millions of stems cells on devices the size of a standard microscope slide. The techniques enable thousands of individual stem cell experiments to be carried out quickly and in parallel on one small device.

"Rensselaer is quickly establishing itself as leader in the development of stem cell technology that hastens the speed and accuracy of stem cell research," Provost Robert Palazzo said. "Our scientists and engineers are filling a vital niche in the global scientific effort to develop medical therapies using stem cells. Tools like these, which enable high-throughput study of stem cells, will quickly advance stem cell research in medical labs around the world."

The two groups of researchers used microarrays to develop miniaturized stem cell laboratories. With this technique researchers can perform high-throughput analysis of the material or cells on a single slide, analyzing tens of thousands of samples in one experiment. Each of the teams developed separate specialized microarray platforms.

Helping Develop Stem Cell Drugs

A team led by Jonathan Dordick, the Howard P. Isermann Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and visiting doctoral student Tiago Fernandez and Professor Joaquim M.S. Cabral from the Instituto Superior Téchinco-Lisbon in Portugal developed a platform that will enhance the speed of drug discovery by revealing how different molecules help or hinder stem cell function. Their research was presented at the 234th American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in Boston on Aug. 19.

The platform will serve as a tool in the discovery of new drugs that target stem cells, Dordick said. He explained that although this three-dimensional system can be used to discover materials that support stem cell development and growth, not all stem cells are worth saving. "New research is showing that some stem cells could be the precursor for cancer and the reason that cancer reappears after having been totally eradicated by chemotherapy," he said. "With this platform we may be able to rapidly screen new drug candidates that target and kill these stem cells. Instead of going for the mature liver cell that spreads cancer, we can catch a liver stem cell before it can kick off cancer development."

The device will enable drug researchers to quickly screen thousands of small molecules (the basic element of many modern drugs) for their impacts on the fate of stem cells.

Dordick's group was able to prepare up to 1,000 drops as small as 20 nanoliters on a chemically modified slide. The drops contained a mixture of mouse embryonic stem cells encased in a specialized gel. The researchers discovered that in this mixture, the cells remained viable and could be used in various forms of cell-based screening.

Helping Understand Gene Function in Stem Cells

A separate team led by Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Ravi Kane and Rensselaer doctoral student Randolph Ashton created a platform that will allow researchers to quickly understand how different genes impact stem cell function or development. Their research will be published in upcoming edition of the journal Stem Cells.

"There are millions of DNA bases and tens of thousands of genes within the human genome," Kane said. "In order to screen how all these different DNA sequences affect stem cell function you need an extremely high throughput method."

In order to become a specialized organ, tissue, or neural cell, a stem cell needs to be pointed in the right direction, and that guidance is believed to be provided by a highly complex arrangement of genes. If researchers can isolate the specific genetic sequences that cause a stem cell to transform into a neural cell, the example that Kane used in his research, they can begin to develop medical treatments for common diseases like Parkinson's disease using specially programmed stem cells infected with the correct arrangement of genes to produce healthy neural cells.

Kane and his team developed a specialized stamping technique that can be used to quickly understand how different genetic sequences affect stem cell development. The stamp is covered with thousands of mircoscale prongs, similar to the surface of a LEGO?. Those prongs imprint the surface of the corresponding slide, creating a microarray platform with thousands of individual cell-adhesive divots - the perfect mircoscale Petri dishes. The master stamp can create thousands of stamped surfaces without the needs for a clean room or sophisticated machinery.

To develop the stem cell mixture added to the stamped surface, the researchers first created a stem cell library. Each stem cell within this library would overexpress a different genetic sequence. Cells from the library are then dropped onto the micropatterned surface, such that each divot contains only one type of cell. Those seeded populations then divide to form individual clonal populations of cells. A stamped surface the size of a microscope slide can contain 3,500 clonal cell populations. These populations can then be screened at the same time for researchers to determine which cells exhibit a desired behavior (i.e. the development of healthy neural cells). The researcher then immediately knows what DNA sequence is responsible for the observed behavior.

To exhibit the effectiveness of their technology, Kane and his group screened clonal populations of rat neural stem cells to identify a sequence that promoted neural stem cell proliferation.

http://www.rpi.edu/

Lamb Remarks Bother Some, Inspire Others

By JASON ROSENBAUM of the Tribune’s staff Published Sunday, September 9, 2007

Interim UM system President Gordon Lamb is taking heat for his condemnation of a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban a form of embryonic stem cell research. "I don’t think strong political statements like that from university officials are appropriate," state Rep. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, said Friday. Lamb last week denounced a ballot initiative to ban somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT, which involves transferring an individual’s DNA to an unfertilized egg to grow stem cells that could be integrated into that person’s body. The process creates an early-stage embryo that must be destroyed to harvest embryonic stem cells.

Proponents say SCNT could unlock embryonic stem cells, possibly to alleviate ailments such as Parkinson’s disease. Opponents say SCNT is human cloning and is unethical. Lamb said the university’s ability to conduct research was at issue. "In their effort to eliminate somatic cell nuclear transfer research, the group championing this amendment is taking the first step to controlling and impeding Missouri’s research agenda and potential for future research," Lamb said in a prepared statement. "And they are doing so in a way that could permanently destroy the future of research in the state and in its universities."

Onder, a physician and member of the state Life Sciences Research Board, disagreed with Lamb. "The initiative that I’ve seen would essentially only outlaw human cloning research, human somatic cell nuclear transfer research, which at this point remains a theoretical form of research," Onder said. "No one’s accomplished it - the cloning of a human embryo - much less has anyone ever derived stem cells from a cloned human embryo, much less has anyone ever done any successful experiments with such cloned embryonic stem cells. So the idea that it would shut down all of research or whatever it is that he said - that’s just frankly absurd."

Onder, who served on a campaign last year to oppose an amendment protecting embryonic stem cell research from General Assembly interference, said lawmakers would be asking Lamb some "tough questions." "Ultimately we appropriate money not to make the president look good or to bolster his career, but for the good of the students in higher education institutions in our state," Onder said. "So again, I would hope it wouldn’t influence the appropriations. But by the same token … it doesn’t seem like he’s acting appropriately, making statements like that."

Rep. Steve Hobbs, R-Mexico, who opposed Amendment 2 last year but is undecided on the proposed ballot item, gave a mixed assessment of Lamb’s statement. "Any time you stake out your territory, you’re going to be open to criticism, … but I guess it’s his decision to make," Hobbs said. "The question is: Is that the voice of the curators, or is it the voice of Gordon Lamb?" Other lawmakers for Boone County supported Lamb. Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia, said he showed "courage and independence" at a crucial juncture. "The problem is we have legislators who want to vote one way but feel forced to vote another way by the right to life community that has a strong hold on our legislature right now," she said.

Rep. Ed Robb, R-Columbia, who supported Amendment 2, praised Lamb’s remarks. "He’s making a statement that reflects the view of the majority of the research faculty at the university," Robb said. "And I think it probably reflects the ideas of the majority of the people of Columbia. Now the question is: Does it reflect the majority of the state? I don’t know that." The legislative impact of Lamb’s statement is muddled by his interim status.

Outgoing House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, said the new UM system president would need to support "a strong, vibrant, robust research environment." "You cannot be in favor of a more restrictive research environment and be the president of a major university system," Harris said. But Hobbs said the stem cell issue is not relevant in choosing the new UM president. "The next president of the university needs to only have one opinion, and that’s what his bosses, the curators, tell him," Hobbs said. "He can have a personal opinion, that’s one thing. But you know, I don’t know if they’ll ask."

ADA RESTORATION ACTION CENTER

After years of being weakened in the courts, Congress is coming to the rescue of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the bipartisan civil rights protections signed into law in 1990. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) introduced the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 on July 26, the seventeenth anniversary of the ADA.

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) have introduced the bill in the Senate.This vital legislation will restate and clarify the intent of Congress in order to keep the promise of the ADA.

Please take action now to encourage members of Congress to sign-on and pass this legislation which was drafted with the support of a broad coalition of disability organizations.

Contact Congress:
Copy or click on this link to tell your representatives in Congress to
support the ADA Restoration Act.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/adawatch/campaign.jsp?campaign
_KEY=6722&t=roadtofreedom.dwt

Sign the Petition:
Copy or click this link to show your support for passage of the ADA
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House Adopts Smith Amendment That Triples Funding for Life-Saving Ethical Stem Cell Research Program

WASHINGTON, July 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. Reps. Chris Smith (R- NJ) and Artur Davis (D-AL) successfully amended a federal spending bill to add millions of dollars for the national program that promotes ethical, life- saving stem cell research and treatment.

The House of Representatives agreed to the Smith-Davis amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill FY08, which is expected to pass the House today. Passage of the amendment means the federal government will now allocate $15 million in FY08 to the National Cord Blood Inventory (NCBI), bringing the program's budget to the level authorized in the law Smith authored, the "Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005" (P.L. 109-129).

"Stem cells taken from umbilical cords are already being used in research and are saving lives. Approximately 8,000 patients have received cord blood treatments for over 70 diseases, including Leukemia, Sickle Cell Anemia and Hurler disease in the last two years alone. With a proven track record such as this, it is imperative that the federal government continue to support this innovative, life-saving program," said Smith.

Smith noted that without the amendment, the NCBI would be shortchanged at a critical time in the program's development.

"The NCBI -- created in 2005 -- now gives us the opportunity to turn medical waste into medical miracles. Without passage of this amendment, the current grant recipients would need to dramatically scale back their cord blood banking initiatives just as they're ramping up to treat more patients. However, by appropriating the full $15 million, we can triple this year's collection number," Smith said.

Originally, today's spending bill -- the FY08 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Act (H.R. 3043) -- only included $4 million for the NCBI for FY08, which falls far short of the $15 million authorized by Smith's 2005 law. The Smith-Davis amendment requires that an additional $11 million of the non-specific allocations to the Health Research and Service Administration (HRSA) must be used to fund the NCBI, bringing it up to the authorized level of $15 million for FY08.

"Surely we can accommodate an $11 million shift -- the net effect of my amendment -- to a proven regenerative medical treatment that will mitigate -- even cure -- a myriad of diseases including leukemia and sickle cell anemia," Smith said.

In total, Smith's "Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005" authorized $265 million dollars for umbilical cord blood collection and storage and for reauthorization of the National Bone Marrow Registry. The law created the NCBI, the first national inventory to collect the needed units of blood and make them readily available.

Smith's law authorized the collection of 150,000 units of cord blood for the NCBI, with a focus on genetic diversity that is expected to meet the needs of 90% of all patients. These units will be made available through an open registry that will link public cord blood banks nationwide to simplify a physician's search for a blood match for stem cells.

The law mandates that any units of cord blood collected and deemed unsuitable for transplantation be donated for additional cord blood stem cell research. Unlike embryonic stem cell research -- which to date has yet to produce any cures or treatments -- cord blood and other adult stem cell research already have resulted in clinical treatments without requiring the destruction of life.

SOURCE Office of U.S. Rep. Chris Smith

German ethics body recommends easing stem cell law

A body that advises the German government on medical ethics on Monday recommended changing the law to make stem cell research easier, a view that could boost the chances of new legislation.

The National Ethics Council voted narrowly in favor of changes to existing laws, which scientists say prevent them keeping up with global advances.

After a heated debate in 2002, parliament decided to ban the production of embryonic cells from pre-existing stem cell lines.

To ensure foreign laboratories did not produce stem cell lines for the German market, it barred German scientists from working on any lines created after January 1, 2002.

The German Research Society DFG has complained about the laws, which are stricter than in many other Western countries.

The matter divides Germany where genetic research is a sensitive subject because of Nazi experiments with creating a master race.

The National Ethics Council said 14 of its 24 members had voted in favor of abolishing the cut-off date and favored setting up an authority to test each case individually instead.

"If the current rules remain, German science will be hopelessly sidelined," said Horst Dreier, speaking for the 14 members who favor changing the law.

The majority also said any new law should state that the import of stem cells should come from widely accessible sources and that manufacturers should not be seeking to make a profit.

The Council called for an end to penalties for scientists involved in international projects using stem cells.

Stem cells offer the potential to treat conditions such as diabetes and Parkinson's disease and to regenerate damaged organs, say scientists. They say cells taken from days-old human embryos seem to be the most promising.

The DFG supported the Council's position.

"This will provide a positive impulse for stem cell research in Germany," DFG Vice President Joerg Hinrich Hacker said.

However, those who believe life begins at conception say cells should be harvested from adults, not embryos. The German Bishops' Conference warned against softening the law.

"We must not subordinate the protection of life to the freedom of research," the Catholic body said.

UCR gets stem-cell funding

By: CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer

RIVERSIDE -- A series of state grants for stem-cell research could bring new life to UC Riverside and boost the area's nascent biotech industry, researchers said this week.

The university earned about $4 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the independent agency created by Proposition 71 to oversee $3 billion in bond funding, since the beginning of the year. A $2.8 million grant the agency awarded to the university, part of a $50 million package its directors approved for research institutions statewide, is expected to help create a new laboratory for six to 12 researchers.

Federal funds support about 60 percent of the university's biological research, according to university officials. Current rules limit the research that federal money can fund.

Stem cells compose embryos in the first week after conception, when they amount to tiny balls of several hundred cells. At that stage, one cell varies little from the one next to it, but all later develop into specific types of body tissue depending on the chemical signals they receive.

Many scientists believe research on stem cells can point the way toward cures for a wide range of diseases. Critics, however, say using the cells amounts to creating life in order to destroy it. A ban issued by President Bush in 2001 prevents federal funding for research on embryonic stem-cell lines created since then; last month, Bush vetoed a congressional attempt to overturn the ban.

Stem cells are also present in bodies of adults, although scientists generally argue that adult stem cells are generally less useful in research. Those scientists, biotech executives and other backers of Prop. 71 have argued that state funding for embryonic stem cell research could draw researchers from other states, and spawn a range of biotech companies that use stem-cell technology.

"Where you've got major research out of a major institution, that tends to spawn business opportunities," said Jeff Linton, who produced materials for stem-cell research as an executive with Serologicals Corp. in Temecula. "That model has been proven time and time again."

Two dozen researchers work with adult human stem cells and nonhuman stem cells at the university. Richard Luben, UCR's associate vice chancellor for research, said the university is using the promise of the new lab, expected to be in use by early 2009, to lure new researchers. The lab will be open to university faculty and outside researchers, a setup that Luben said should encourage the development of biotech businesses.

California voters approved Prop. 71 in 2004, using state money to circumvent the federal ban. Backers of the measure argued that it would make the state a magnet for researchers from elsewhere in the country. Several states with significant biological research have considered measures similar to California's, albeit on smaller scales.

NJ to weigh $450M for stem cell research

By TOM HESTER Jr., Associated Press Writer
New Jersey voters will decide this November whether to approve borrowing $450 million to pay for 10 years of stem cell research under legislation approved Thursday by the Legislature.

The Assembly voted 50-27 and the Senate 31-3 to approve the bill, which is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Jon S. Corzine.

"The potential yield on this investment — in terms of lives saved, hope restored and economies revitalized — is unlimited," said Senate President Richard J. Codey, a Democrat. "With the support of our residents in November, this public investment will be nearly unparalleled in the United States."

Scientists say stem cell research may be key to finding treatments for a variety of maladies, including paralysis, diabetes and Parkinson's disease.

The vote comes a day after President Bush vetoed a bill that would have eased constraints on federally funded embryonic stem cell research. Abortion foes oppose embryonic research because it destroys human embryos.

Marie Tasy, New Jersey Right to Life executive director, called the plan a "boondoggle referendum which will place a moral and fiscal burden on New Jersey taxpayers." She urged lawmakers to support funding only for research that doesn't involve embryos.

The funding would go toward advancing medical treatments and attracting leading scientists and research companies to the state. New Jersey has already approved spending $270 million to build stem cell research facilities.

Several states are competing in stem cell research. California approved spending $3 billion on stem cell research, Connecticut has a $100 million program, Illinois spent $10 million and Maryland awarded $15 million in grants.

Clinton Speaks Out on Stem Cell

By HOLLY RAMER, Associated Press Writer

A child with diabetes and a paralyzed 23-year-old joined Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday in urging President Bush to loosen restraints on money for embryonic stem cell research.

Clinton addressed the issue just days after the House voted to ease limits on the federally funded research despite President Bush's veto threat. Joining her at Dartmouth College were Alex Walter, 10, of Londonderry, N.H., who has Type 1 diabetes, and Laura Clark of Antrim, N.H., who has been paralyzed since a car crash three years.

Walter's father, Steve, said he is a registered Republican but supports Clinton because he is frustrated with the Bush administration's stance on stem cell research. His son has endured 10 to 12 blood tests a day and about 100 insulin injections a month since being diagnosed at age 4.

"This is not a religious issue," he said. "It's really about a little boy who's 10 years old, and another 100 million Americans who could benefit from this research."

Clark's mother, Kathleen, also a Republican, said her daughter's experience has been life-shattering for the family. But she also made a practical appeal, noting the billions spent on people with chronic spinal cord injuries. Even modest advances through stem cell research — allowing quadriplegics to regain the use of their hands — would lead to a significant savings in health care costs, she said.

Clinton said the administration's position was part of its general contempt for science and disregard of evidence in favor of ideology.

"Every day that passes, we have families like the Walters and the Clarks waiting and wondering whether their government is really on the side of helping and saving the lives of their loved ones," she said. "Where we are now is, we're going backward. We're not just stalled. We're going backward."

Bush says the legislation would compel taxpayers to support "the deliberate destruction of human embryos." Lawmakers lack the votes to overturn a veto.

But Clinton emphasized that the bill would permit funding only for research on embryonic stem cells donated from in-vitro fertilization clinics — with the donor's approval — that otherwise would be discarded.

"We do take seriously the ethical concerns," she said. "This is not something that has been done in a quick, poorly thought out way. ... I think there is a false difference between the president's position and ours."

Geron Reports Stem Cell Research Data

Geron Says Its Spinal Injury Stem Cell Treatment Tolerated by Human Immune System

NEW YORK (AP) -- Geron Corp. said Monday its stem cell treatment for spinal cord injuries is tolerated by the human immune system.

At the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies meeting in San Diego, the company presented research showing GRNOPC1, which uses embryonic stem cells, is not directly attacked by the immune system. That means patients treated with GRNOPC1 could need lower doses or less treatment with immune-suppressing drugs than other transplant recipients, according to the company.

"The results imply that our cell-based therapeutic, unlike traditional solid organ transplants, is minimally recognized by the human immune system," said President and Chief Executive Thomas B. Okarma. The company said it expects the spinal treatment to be its first product to enter clinical trials. Shares of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Geron rose 27 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $8.94 in Monday morning trading. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $5.66 and $10.

California set for stem cell bonanza

After more than two years of legal wrangling, California is free to spend over $3 billion during the next decade on stem cell research - the largest sum any body has proposed to spend on stem cells.

In November 2004, voters backed the creation of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) with the goal of boosting research using human embryonic stem cells. This is currently hampered by restrictions on federal funding.

Opponents of embryo research claimed the move violated California's constitution. Their challenge ended on 16 May, when the state supreme court declined to review an earlier ruling that had upheld CIRM's constitutionality.

Now CIRM is free to raise some $300 million per year by selling bonds. Previously it was limited to a $150 million loan from the state government plus $45 million lent by philanthropic groups.

CIRM still faces bruising internal battles. Last month, patient advocates complained that its president, Zach Hall, was rushing to spend $222 million on new lab buildings. Hall resigned, two months before his planned departure, and now public hearings will be held on the plans.

Osteoporosis

It can happen without warning, you bend over to pick up the morning paper and feel a searing pain in your side. Later you learn you've fractured a rib. If you're an older adult, your fracture may be the result of osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis, which means "porous bones," causes bones to become weak and brittle. So brittle that even mild stresses like bending over, lifting a vacuum cleaner or coughing can cause a fracture. In most cases, bones weaken when you have low levels of calcium, phosphorus and other minerals in your bones. Osteoporosis can also accompany endocrine disorders or result from excessive use of drugs such as corticosteroids.

In the United States, osteoporosis causes more than 1.5 million fractures every year. Most of them in the spine, hip or wrist. And although it's often thought of as a women's disease, osteoporosis affects many men as well. About 8 million American women and 2 million American men have osteoporosis, and nearly 18 million more Americans may have low bone density. Even children aren't immune.

It's never too late, or too early, to do something about osteoporosis. Everyone can take steps to keep bones strong and healthy throughout life.

Ancient Healers: Rituals Revisited

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- We spend much of our time talking about modern medical breakthroughs. However, most of modern medicine has its roots in the past. Here are some of these ancient ceremonies used in the name of healing.

Smoldering sage is meant to eliminate bad energy.

Rhythmic drumming calls the spirits to this healing circle. Family Practitioner Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D., of The Continuum Center for Health & Healing at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, is a soft-spoken Cherokee Indian in an unlikely place. Dr. Mehl-Madrona says, "I've learned to think of Manhattan as a tribal ground. When they make all their noise then I just think, 'Oh, my tribal brothers are hard at work.'"

Inside his office, though, the city's tribal noises are shut out. Today, Heather comes to Dr. Mehl-Madrona to heal her depression. Her boyfriend committed suicide two years ago. A doll represents him. Heather says, "He had beautiful blue eyes, and I remember those." Dr. Mehl-Madrona says, "I was thinking Michael left his depression behind and you kind of picked it up or something." They will try to conjure Michael's spirit so heather can let go of her bad energy.

Heather says, "It scared my family. It scared my friends -- the way that I've been feeling and acting." Dr. Mehl-Madrona says, "Get really mad if you need to, and then we can feather your bad energy so you can go on with your life," says Dr. Mehl-Madrona. He believes spiritual rituals and holistic therapies may have been cast aside in the name of modern medicine. "We're beginning to figure out that we need more than pharmaceuticals and people that can cut on us with knives," says Dr. Mehl-Madrona.

While healing ceremonies are uncommon in the United States, they are an integral part of the culture in many other countries. In the Sacred Valley of Peru, native healer Alicia Huaman Guitterez comes from a long line of healers. "My grandparents, my parents, were healers. When I was born he saw a chakara marking in my forehead," she says. Her healings come by way of offerings to Pachamama - Mother Earth. Once the offering is prepared and prayers have been said, she offers it to the gods. "That's how it goes from being in the physical into the spiritual world," says Alicia. Both Alicia and Dr. Mehl-Madrona believe these ceremonies give patients the inner strength to heal themselves.

The center where Dr. Mehl-Madrona works offers a variety of holistic approaches beyond Native American rituals, including acupuncture, herbal medicine, visualization and homeopathy.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D.
The Continuum for Health and Healing
245 Fifth Avenue at 28th Street
New York, NY 10016
(646) 935-2220

Osteoporosis Mat

Ivanhoe Newswire -- A healthy diet, exercise and medication are typically what doctors prescribe for the more than 10 million women and men who suffer from osteoporosis in this country. Now, what you sleep on may also help prevent bone loss. Inside this thin mat are 200 layers of aluminum and polyester, materials that may hold the key to treating and preventing osteoporosis.

Geriatrician Karen Prestwood, M.D., says, "When a person lies on the mat, the layers of material rub together and create this very low level electrical field." Researchers from the Center on Aging at the University of Connecticut in Farmington believe that electrical field builds bone density and stimulates calcium growth when patients sleep the mat. "The mat can act as a capacitor so that when a person lies on it, this energy is emitted and it is thought it may affect bones," says Dr. Prestwood. Half of the 70 women in the study sleep on the electromagnetic mat and half on a placebo mat. Agnes Perrault is a volunteer. She doesn't have osteoporosis yet, and hopes to keep it that way. "I really am into preventative medicine, or whatever. I would rather do something now than have some sort of condition," Perrault tells Ivanhoe.

Bone activity is monitored through changes in blood and urine, which are taken every six weeks. Dr. Prestwood says, "The implications are huge because this would be a simple, noninvasive, inexpensive way to treat osteoporosis." The study is also looking at whether or not sleeping on the mat can boost the immune system.

Silverton Man Is An Inspiration

Gregory Perry, who had spinal reconstructive surgery in August 2001, spends his days exercising, walking and talking by phone to people around the country who are interested in the surgery and his progress. The 30-year-old Silverton man was shot Feb. 8, 1996, causing a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from his neck down. Dr. Carl C. Kao, a neurosurgeon who directs a spinal cord clinic in Washington, D.C., performed the surgery on Perry.

"I have been getting calls from people from Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota, New York, Texas, Alabama asking about the surgery, since they read about it in the Enquirer," Perry said. "I have become a morale booster for them. I tell them to stay focused and have patience. I let them know that you cannot recover from this kind of surgery overnight. "Some of the calls are from people with spinal injuries and paralysis who want the surgery. Some have relatives or friends who want the surgery." He said some callers want to come to Cincinnati and exercise with him. He figures he is now walking close to two city blocks and thinks that is great progress. "I take about 325 steps a day, and it is just as hard taking the 325 as it was taking the first step a year and a half ago. I have a long way to go, but I will never give up. I made a promise to myself that I will walk again, and I will spend the rest of my life striving for that goal," Perry said. His walking is done with special boots and a walker. He said walking takes his exercising to another level. "Exercising is easy compared to what I have to do to walk. It takes everything out of me. I take three or four steps and then I have to rest," he said.

Encouraging Fruit and Veggie Consumption

Ivanhoe Newswire -- Counseling low-income people about the benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption can lead to positive changes in their diet, finds a new study from British investigators. Their report in the current British Medical Journal notes a significant increase in the proportion of people eating five or more servings a day after brief educational sessions delivered in doctors’ offices. Studies have shown consumption of fruits and vegetables can lower the risk of cancer and heart disease. However, research also indicates people in lower socioeconomic groups are less likely to eat these nutritious foods. Brief counseling sessions have been shown effective in a few reports, but well-designed studies have yet to be conducted. In this study, investigators enrolled about 270 men and women ages 18 to 70 in a randomized controlled trial. All were in good health and came from inner-city, low-income groups. About half the group received nutrition education counseling in which a nurse instructed them in the benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption, the nutritional content of these foods, and how these nutrients work in the body to keep it healthy. The other half received behavioral counseling. These interventions were tailor-made to the specific individuals, providing personalized advice and emphasizing short-term and long-term goals involving fruit and vegetable consumption.

Participants in the study completed questionnaires about their diet before receiving the counseling and then again at eight weeks and 12 months. They also underwent blood and urine tests to ascertain levels of certain nutrients. Results showed positive effects from both interventions, although those in the behavioral counseling group fared the best. By the one-year follow up, the proportion of participants eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day had increased by 42 percent in the behavioral group and 27 percent in the nutrition education group. Blood levels of important nutrients increased in both groups, and there were no changes in urine levels.

Tendon Transfer

Ivanhoe Newswire -- We need to pinch our thumb for nearly 90 percent of the tasks we do each day with our hands. It's something most of us take for granted, but if we were to lose that ability, it would make life very difficult. Here's how doctors are restoring the ability to pinch in some people with spinal cord injuries. What may seem like a simple stroke of the brush is a major accomplishment for Rose O'Lague. A car accident left O'Lague a quadriplegic. But, she says, not being able to walk was not the hardest part.

"My thumb hung away from my hand so I had no grip," O'Lague tells Ivanhoe. No grip meant not being able to hold her paintbrush. She says, "No matter how hard I tried, I could not grip anything. That was terribly frustrating."

To restore function in O'Lague's thumb, doctors took a tendon from her forearm and transferred it to her thumb. Orthopedic hand surgeon Allan Peljovich, M.D., M.P.H., of Shepherd Center in Atlanta, performed rose's surgery. "In the end, it doesn't cause her any difficulty or impairment in her elbow, but now provides her with function she doesn't have," he tells Ivanhoe.

After five weeks in a cast and months of therapy, O'Lague is now able to paint with great detail. Dr. Peljovich says, "Taking care of people like Rose are about as much fun as it gets because you can really make a difference for what they do."

O'Lague says, "I can put on my own lipstick. I can pick up finger food."

She can also turn pages -- a necessity for a director of a community theater. She says, "I know I'm not going to walk again and I'm not concerned about that, but not to be able to do anything with my hands, that probably would have been the hardest thing to really live with." Doctors say new techniques have made tendon transfers more successful and better for the patient. Tendon transfers can be done in other areas of the body including the shoulder, elbow and hand.

Stanford Draws Criticism With Announcement of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Project

SAN FRANCISCO—Stanford University has reignited the debate over the use of stem cells with a top scientist saying the school intends to experiment with cell nuclear transfer technology, an effort many consider to be cloning. "Our avowed goal is to advance science," said Stanford medical professor Dr. Irving Weissman, who will direct the work. "For any group to stay out of the action and wait for someone else to do it because of political reasons is wrong." Much of the institute's research will be geared to treating cancer. Weissman — and Stanford — emphatically denied that the project involves cloning embryos. He said that the university's work would involve taking DNA from diseased adult human cells and transferring them into eggs, then growing them in the lab for a few days to produce stem cells, which many scientists believe can be used to treat myriad illnesses. "Creating human stem cell lines is not equivalent to reproductive cloning," the school said in a statement released Tuesday night. "The first step in the process of creating a stem cell line involves transferring the nucleus from a cell to an egg and allowing the egg to divide. This is the same first step as in reproductive cloning. However, in creating a stem cell line, cells are removed from the developing cluster. These cells can go on to form many types of tissue but cannot on their own develop into a human." Many other researchers dismiss such a distinction, saying that this kind of nuclear transfer, which would create an exact genetic replica of the adult cell donor if allowed to grow, is in fact cloning. The American Association of Medical Colleges, of which Stanford is a member, defines it this way: "Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) or therapeutic cloning involves removing the nucleus of an unfertilized egg cell, replacing it with the material from the nucleus of a `somatic cell' (a skin, heart, or nerve cell, for example), and stimulating this cell to begin dividing." Similar research has already been done at the University of California, San Francisco, although it closed down its program when its lead researcher moved to England, where stem cell research is more accepted. It's also been done at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts, which was roundly criticized after announcing preliminary research results. Scientists believe that embryonic stem cells, which are created in the first days of pregnancy and develop into all the cells that comprise a human body, can be used to treat many illnesses. Embryos must be destroyed to harvest the stem cells, and some anti-abortion activists and others oppose the research. Ronald Green, the chairman of Advanced Cell's ethics advisory committee and a religion professor at Dartmouth University, applauded Stanford's announcement but said "cloning" is in fact the mostly widely accepted term for what Weissman's team plans to do. "We've been struggling with names for this technology — I've favored &rsquo therapeutic cloning,’ " Green said. Other leading ethicists call it "biomedical cloning" and distinguish it from "reproductive cloning." While "cloning" suggests the production of a baby, and that's not Stanford's intent, "you are creating something that some view as an embryo," Green said. "Almost any terminology is inadequate to explain the complex science." Nobel laureate and Stanford professor Paul Berg, when asked at the news conference if nuclear transfer and cloning were the same, he had a two-word response: " It is." He added, " We use the word cloning in science as a term to describe the production of many copies of a starting material. "

Stanford's stem cell work will be part of the new Institute for Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, launched with a $12 million donation. Any stem cells created will be shared with outside researchers, many of whom complain of inadequate access to currently available stem cell lines. Weissman, an outspoken stem cell research proponent, was named institute director. Weissman, serving as chairman of a National Academy of Sciences panel, testified before the Senate this year in favor of nuclear transfer as a way of creating new lines of stem cells. Last year, President George W. Bush limited federal funding to stem cell lines created before Aug. 9, 2001. Of those 78 stem cell colonies worldwide that the Bush administration has said are eligible for federally funded research, only about a dozen are in good enough shape to use in experiments. Even fewer lines, perhaps four, are routinely shared with other researchers interested in breaking into the field.

Wound Pain Relief

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Chronic wounds can affect diabetics, people who are bed-ridden, and people with spinal cord injuries among others. These wounds can last for months, even years and cause excruciating pain that keeps people from walking or driving. Now, a doctor in Kansas came up with a simple idea that's producing amazing results. With her faith behind her, Shirley Williams has learned to appreciate every day. "It had to bring me out of a coma and back into life," she says. Today, Williams is turning her experiences into a story -- experiences she struggles to talk about. She developed kidney failure. It brought on agonizing, chronic wounds. "You sit in one position and don't move. If you don't move, the pain will eventually ease up," she says. Williams tried oral medications and creams, but it was a gel that finally brought relief. Internist/psychiatrist Teresa Long, M.D., tells Ivanhoe, "It's sort of startling in its simplicity." Simple in that it's just morphine mixed with a gel. "The idea was, having looked at other research, that when wounds are inflamed and painful, that the body produces receptors for morphine and morphine-like compounds," says Dr. Long, of the KU Medical Center in Kansas City. In other words, chronic wounds essentially create arms to grab on to morphine. This means the need for less medication, better relief, and fewer side effects. Dr. Long says, "Pain was decreased from a level of 7 down to 0 to 2 or 3 in most of the patients that we saw." For Williams it meant being able to do even little things. She says, "It's a blessing just to get up and walk into my kitchen." Compounding pharmacists can make the gel. Dr. Long is currently involved in a study to determine the best amount of drug and the best delivery method.

If you would like more information, please contact:

KU Medical Center
Physician Referral Line
(913) 588-1227

Stem Cell Sciences Ltd and Sosei Establish Joint Venture in Stem Cell Therapy Field - Going Global in Japan

Stem Cell Sciences Ltd (SCS) and Sosei Co Ltd (Sosei) today jointly announced a significant initiative with the formation of a new Japanese biotechnology company, Stem Cell Sciences KK (SCS KK). The new company is headquartered in the recently established Kobe Frontier Medicine Precinct. "The project has progressed quickly and smoothly through the close relationships developed between SCS, Sosei, the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (RIKEN CDB) and the Kobe City Government," said Shinichi Tamura, CEO of Sosei. "We see a great future for SCS KK as a partner for SCS in this global initiative. We intend to nurture this kind of joint venture in Japan with Western biotech companies when we see strong synergy between their business strategy and evolving Japanese situation, whilst maintaining our focus on product development as Sosei's core business." he said. Licenses granted to SCS KK by SCS are for the SCS patented stem cell technologies relating to the growth, differentiation and purification of embryonic stem cells. These technologies provide a range of highly purified cell types, such as neurons and cardiac cells, for gene and drug discovery. SCS technologies have already been licensed to world leading pharmaceutical companies such as Aventis and Glaxo Smith Kline, as well as other biopharmaceutical companies. SCS KK will exclusively market the discovery platform technologies of SCS and those developed by SCS KK throughout Asia. SCS in turn will market the combined technologies in all other territories, and partner with SCS KK to create safe and effective stem cell-based therapies for the global market. SCS KK will also undertake collaborative research and development programs with world leading stem cell researchers at the newly created RIKEN CDB. SCS KK and SCS will combine in-house technologies with those arising from their academic research collaborations such as ones with RIKEN CDB and the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Genome Research (CGR), accelerating discovery and progress towards new cell therapies. As an integral part of the SCS global alliance, SCS KK will directly address the important regulatory, manufacturing and marketing requirements specific to cell therapies in Japan. "While the framework is still unfolding, we are pleased with progress and outcomes to date" said Dr Peter Mountford, CEO of SCS. "Japan's green light for human ES cell research is the first of many steps on the path to new human medicines". SCS KK commercial operations will start immediately through presentation of SCS discovery technologies to the Japanese pharmaceutical industry. "I have been enormously impressed with the foresight and commitment of the Japanese and Kobe City governments in building this magnificent new precinct for frontier human medicines" said Dr Mountford, "and I don't know of another project like it anywhere in the world. It not only links outstanding basic research with cutting edge clinical capability, but is also fostering the development and global participation of the emerging Japanese biotechnology industry." "We're delighted that SCS KK is the first collaborative research sponsor for the RIKEN CDB and one of the founding biotech companies of the Kobe Frontier Medicine Precinct. I am certain the opportunities available in Kobe will attract many other international biotech firms to Japan," he said. SCS KK appointed Kenzo Nakajima, Executive Vice President and COO of Sosei, as Acting CEO. "Taking advantage of pursuing the collaborative research and development programs with the world leading stem cell researchers in combination with the stem cell technology platform licensed from SCS, SCS KK will be enormously competitive in this emerging field not only in Japan but also in the world. We, as SCS KK, envisage the initial stage of our operations will be to generate revenues through sponsored research and/or licensing of SCS discovery technologies to the Japanese pharmaceutical industry, but our medium and long term focus will remain in the research and development of cell based therapies.

Mini Hip Replacement

Ivanhoe Newswire -- Each year 300,000 people have hip replacement surgery in the United States. That number is expected to double as the baby boomer population ages. Generally, the surgery involves a foot-long incision that causes trauma to the body. A new way of doing this surgery is harder for the surgeon, but easier on the patient. Barbi Martin is out shopping for the first time in six weeks. At 57-years old, Martin was tired of being in pain. She tells Ivanhoe, "Christmas time came and I couldn't go shopping. I used to go shopping with each of my kids, and we'd spend the whole day shopping, just girl stuff. I couldn't do that." It was time for a new hip. Martin didn't get a standard hip replacement, however. Instead of a 10- to 12-inch incision, hers would be just 3 to 4 inches. Orthopedic surgeon David Dore, M.D., tells Ivanhoe, "It's just been phenomenal as far as how much easier it is on the patients." Dr. Dore, of Florida Hospital in Celebration, says the smaller incision means less cutting of the muscles, less blood loss and less pain ... but more work for the surgeon. "Technically it's more difficult. You're working through a much smaller hole," he says. Special tools are designed to help the surgeon work and see through the smaller opening. Dr. Dore says, "You're now able to take a light source, snap it down in there so you can actually illuminate deep in the wound. I think as we make the procedure easier, it will become more acceptable by hip surgeons," he says. Martin has just a three-and-a-half inch scar. But more than that, she says the surgery and recovery has been a cinch. "I didn't have any pain. I kept waiting for the pain to come," she says. A day out with her daughter is just the first step in Martin's new beginning. Dr. Dore says it will probably take 5 to 10 years before the smaller incision becomes the standard for hip replacement surgery. He hopes more and more surgeons, however, will be open minded to this idea since it appears to be so much easier on the patient.

Group Scores Victory in Harry and Louise Battle

WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - Harry and Louise, the TV characters first made famous for weighing in against the Clinton administration's health care plan, may continue to be used in advertisements aimed at defeating a bill that would ban all human cloning, the US District Court of Washington DC has ruled. The characters appeared in ads paid for by CuresNow, a patient group that advocates cloning to produce stem cells for research purposes. The group fears an outright cloning ban would also prevent cloning for research purposes. US District Judge Reggie B. Walton ruled that there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the copyright belongs to the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA), which filed for a preliminary injunction earlier this month. HIAA was the sponsor of the original ads, and is alleging that the new CuresNow commercials are hurting the organization's public image. "We have taken no position on cloning and our frustration is that these ads have sown confusion," HIAA spokesperson Randy Clerihue explained in an interview with Reuters Health. But in the ruling, Walton noted that the industry organization did not attempt to copyright the characters until after the CuresNow ads began to run. The Judge added that he believed CuresNow clearly would be hurt by the preliminary injunction if it were forced to remove the ads during the legislative debate. The US House already has passed a cloning ban, but the US Senate is not expected to begin the cloning debate until next month. Clerihue said among the HIAA's remaining options were filing an appeal, pursuing the accompanying lawsuit or settling the lawsuit out of court. Walton did not rule on the accompanying lawsuit, but would be the same judge to hear that case. Clerihue said the organization has yet to decide on a course of action. CuresNow spokeswoman Ginny Grenham told Reuters Health the group is committed to running the ads for as long as necessary. "We didn't anticipate this legal challenge," she told Reuters Health. "Hopefully, they will not pursue it. It would be foolish of them to pursue it considering that a good percentage of those they cover would be helped by this research." Ad producer Ben Goddard, who made both the HIAA and CuresNow ads, praised the court ruling in a statement. In denying HIAA's attempt to silence the Harry and Louise ads, "the court has taken an important step in preserving an important public voice in the debate over this issue," Goddard said. Earlier, Goddard also noted his wife, Louise Claire Clark, plays Louise in the ads and supports therapeutic cloning and stem cell research. Goddard added that Louise would be donating her pay to CuresNow to aid with its lobbying campaign.

Senate to Delay Cloning, Stem Cell Debate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate again probably will delay a contentious debate about embryonic stem cell research and human cloning, missing a tentative late-May target date, Majority Leader Tom Daschle said on Tuesday. Daschle said the Senate had spent more time than he had anticipated on energy and trade legislation, leaving too little time to bring up cloning legislation before the Memorial Day congressional recess. The fate of the legislation is uncertain, with some senators still undecided or at least unannounced. "I think we're probably going to have to pick up where we left on stem cell research sometime after we get back," Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, told reporters. While lawmakers across the political spectrum are strongly opposed to "reproductive cloning" -- an attempt to create a cloned human baby -- there is division about whether "therapeutic cloning" should be allowed. Under therapeutic cloning, an embryo is created and stem cells -- primitive cells that have the ability to transform into many other cell types -- extracted for medical research. The embryo is destroyed and is not implanted in a woman's uterus to become a baby. The debate is being heavily lobbied and is the source of a number of emotional advertising campaigns. The issue is expected to play a role in campaigns in states with close votes in this congressional election year. The House of Representatives last year passed a bill, strongly backed by President Bush and anti-abortion groups, that would ban all types of human cloning. Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback and Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu. Debate has been put off several times. Competing legislation sponsored by Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania would outlaw any attempt to clone an actual human being, but would allow therapeutic cloning. Foes of cloning say it is immoral to create an embryo only to destroy it, and say it could lead to a society in which, as Bush put it in a speech last month, "human beings are grown for spare body parts and children are engineered to custom specifications." But advocates of therapeutic cloning say it is a promising avenue of stem cell research that could lead to treatments for a wide range of diseases, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer.

Hey, Mom, Relax!

Ivanhoe Newswire -- Premature babies who survive to adulthood often face serious health problems. One of the major causes of premature birth is stress on the mom. So what's an expectant mother to do? For Fernanda Erlanger, it wasn't easy bringing eight-month-old Julia into the world. Fernanda's last baby was born at 24 weeks, and died soon after. Fernanda took no chances with Julia. "Pregnancy is a really special time. It's not something to take for granted. For some women it's really easy. It's not a big deal, and for other women it's much harder and I think you need to be much more protective," Fernanda tells Ivanhoe. In her case, that meant months of bed rest. It also meant eliminating stress in her life. Fernanda had friends run errands and hired an assistant to handle chores. She also did a lot of meditating. "I noticed I was much more relaxed. I was very calm. I noticed how stressed out people around me were, because I had kind of just let a lot of things go," she says. Perinatologist Calvin Hobel, M.D., says stress can be bad for any expectant mother. "It changes the hormone production by the placenta which is now thought to be the biological clock that determines when labor starts," Dr. Hobel, of UCLA School of Medicine, tells Ivanhoe. In other words, too much stress, and the baby could be born prematurely. Dr. Hobel says, "The signal to the fetus is that if you want to survive, that you have to get out of the uterus early." He suggests pregnant women do what Fernanda did -- surround themselves with a support network. He suggests yoga, meditation, and other relaxation techniques. Fernanda agrees. "You know the groceries will wait, and the bills will wait, and a lot of things will wait," says Fernanda -- a healthy outlook for mom and baby. Doctors define a premature birth as one that occurs 20 to 37 weeks into the pregnancy. Dr. Hobel believes a developing fetus can be impacted by a mother's stress as early as 13 weeks after conception.

California SC Lifts Hold on Billions for Stem Cell Research

By Jason Dearen
With the state's Supreme Court decision clearing the way for the distribution of billions of dollars in grants, California will have more resources devoted to stem cell research than any country in the world. The ruling upheld a lower court, which rejected the plaintiff's claims that the state's newly created stem cell agency was tainted by conflicts of interest.

The California Supreme Court cleared the way for the state's stem cell research agency to distribute billions of dollars in grants when it turned back a last-ditch legal challenge Wednesday.

The state's high court declined to review a lower court ruling that upheld the constitutionality of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The litigation had prevented the agency from doling out US$3 billion in research grants.

"Today's action by the California Supreme Court is a victory for our state because potentially life-saving science can continue without a shadow of legal doubt," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The resolution of the suit means the agency can now borrow money from Wall Street bond dealers. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer "intends to move as quickly as possible" in managing the sale of billions of dollars in bonds to fund research grants, said spokesperson Tom Dresslar.

Robert Klein, who wrote the ballot initative that created the agency in 2004, said the court decision provides California with more resources for stem cell research than any other nation in the world.

The state high court had been asked by stem cell opponents to overturn the decision of a lower court, which had ruled in favor of the stem cell agency.

The plaintiff, the California Family Bioethics Council, had argued that the stem cell agency is corrupted by conflicts of interest. The council complained that university officials whose schools were applying for millions in research grants from the stem cell agency should not be on its oversight board.

As written, Proposition 71 dictates that those officials must recuse themselves when the board is considering an application from their schools.

Dana Cody, an attorney for the antiabortion group Life Legal Foundation, another plaintiff, said she was not surprised by the ruling.

"I'm really sad that California taxpayers are going to be funding experimental research when there's been great strides made in adult stem cell research," she said.

Scientists hope human embryonic stem cells can someday be used to replace diseased tissue.

Odds high, funds sparse for stem cell researchers

For all the hype and hope surrounding stem cell research, most of the companies trying to develop treatments from these powerful cells live in a place Governor Deval Patrick this week called the "valley of death." It is a harsh place where neither the federal government nor private investors provide much support and small firms with limited funding struggle to figure out how to harness stem cells' extraordinary power.

No one knows that better than Dr. Thomas Okarma , whose company, Geron Corp. , hopes next year to start the nation's first human tests of a treatment derived from embryonic stem cells. The California company has already spent years developing OPC1 as a possible therapy for spinal cord injuries. Researchers have had to inject 2,000 animals to show it was safe, grow the cells 75 times over to prove they could do it, and invent a needle to inject cells into the injury site. Even if human tests go well, federal approval probably won't happen for years. If tests go badly, foes of embryonic stem cell research are sure to pounce.

"The challenge . . . is not for the faint of heart or the light of purse," said Okarma, who says his company has invested more than $100 million in stem cell research to date.

The $1 billion life sciences initiative Patrick announced this week could provide a boost for stem cell companies that locate or start up in Massachusetts, in part by providing stable support through the many years it will take to realize the promise of stem cell treatments. Saying he intended to make the state the "capital of stem cell research on the planet," Patrick wants to set up an embryonic stem cell bank at the University of Massachusetts that would greatly reduce storage costs for the delicate cells and expand researchers' access to different types.

He proposed grants for lab equipment that could be used to work with the embryonic stem cells scientists are banned from studying with federally supported lab instruments, and grants to keep promising researchers from leaving the state.

The proposal would also provide a hand up from the "valley of death" in the form of short-term funding for companies to develop ideas until they can attract private investors, and possibly an actual "incubator" building where new stem cell companies could be housed. Many details of the 10-year plan remain to be decided, including how the money would be divided between stem cell research and other sciences, but stem cell researchers have been overwhelmingly positive about the assistance.

"This is really a long-term investment in Massachusetts not losing its premier role in life sciences," said John Auerbach, state public health commissioner.

But, even with the burgeoning aid from Massachusetts and other states, biotech executives at the BIO 2007 conference in Boston this week made it clear that researchers still face daunting hurdles in learning how to grow and manage both adult and embryonic stem cells and to get them to do something medically useful. Embryonic stem cell research is less than a decade old, they pointed out, and new fields of medicine typically take 20 years or more to produce results. One danger, several top stem cell scientists said, is that cash-strapped firms will rush into human testing before they answer basic questions, with potentially disastrous results.

Many stem cell pioneers "are dealing with things they don't know enough about to begin with, and then they're adding stuff to it," said Nancy Parenteau of Vermont-based Parenteau BioConsultants, referring to the growth enhancers and other chemicals that are used to manipulate stem cells. She noted that some researchers don't even know where the stem cells go once they're injected into a patient. She said the Massachusetts initiative could be great for the whole field if the state spurs more research on how stem cells work and why.

The Massachusetts investment could also discourage firms from following the lead of Advanced Cell Technology, a stem cell company that moved its corporate headquarters from Worcester to Alameda, Calif., a year and a half ago, partly to take advantage of California's Proposition 71, which made $3 billion available for stem cell research in that state over the next decade.

William M. Caldwell IV, Advanced Cell Technology chairman, called Patrick's move "long overdue," after former governor Mitt Romney's opposition to embryonic stem cell research. Now, Caldwell said, Massachusetts could have "the most user-friendly state from the standpoint of research and commercialization in the country." The company still has researchers in Worcester, and Caldwell said his firm may expand activities there.

Compared with most states, Massachusetts has a vibrant stem cell research community, led by the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, which has 45 principal faculty members and more than 600 employees involved in stem cell research at Harvard-affiliated hospitals and labs. But the number of companies in the state trying to develop treatments from adult or embryonic stem cells remains tiny, a problem Caldwell sees across the country. "It's like a desert," he said.

Embryonic stem cells have inspired hope and controversy since University of Wisconsin researchers first isolated them in 1998. The cells are the body's master cells, capable of becoming any kind of tissue, raising the possibility that they could be coaxed to create replacement tissue for diseased and damaged organs. But some argue that the harvesting of stem cells from fertilized human embryos is unethical because it requires the destruction of the embryo . In August 2001, President Bush sided with critics, banning US funding for research on embryonic stem cells harvested after that date.

As a result, unlike those in other new scientific fields, embryonic stem cell researchers got almost no boost from the federal government: Nationally, they received only $122 million from the National Institutes of Health from 2002 to 2006, roughly the amount Geron alone has spent on stem cell research. NIH did provide $799 million over the same period for stem cells taken from adults, but the requirement that older and newer embryonic stem cells be strictly segregated discouraged many researchers from entering the stem cell field at all. And overall NIH funding for stem cells has not increased for three years, resulting in a steady rise in the percentage of studies that are rejected.

For Geron, dwindling federal support means that whenever the company needs a question answered it has to pay for the research. Fortunately for the company, animal tests of its stem cell therapy for spinal damage, OPC1, have produced some of the most remarkable results yet in stem cell research, consistently restoring rats' ability to use their hind legs. Geron is now ready to ask the US Food and Drug Administration for permission to begin testing the treatment in humans.

But Goldstein, who was not involved in the OPC1 research, said the clarity of the Geron findings is a rare exception in a field full of ambiguities.

The fear among researchers is that poorly-thought-out experiments could go so badly that the results damage the field much the way the 1999 death of Jesse Gelsinger, a healthy teenager, cast a shadow over another promising treatment, gene therapy.

"The ideological right is not asleep," said Robert Klein , chairman of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee in California, which oversees public stem cell funding. He cautioned that opponents of embryonic stem cell research will attempt to exploit setbacks in human trials. "There will be failures as well as successes. We must be patient."

Many Couples Choose To Donate Surplus Embryos For Stem Cell Research

Nearly 50% of couples who were interviewed at least 3 years after undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) chose to donate their surplus, stored embryos for stem cell research, according to a report by the Spanish Stem Cell Bank in an April 26, 2007, advanced online publication of Cell Stem Cell, a new publication of Cell Press in affiliation with the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

The key to the couples' decisions, according to the authors of the report, was the complete and clear explanation of their options through an interview process with a legal advisor and embryologist, which helped couples navigate the confusing legal situation and address any concerns they might have had about donation for research purposes. While the findings reflect the interest level among couples in Spain--where the stem cell research environment is fairly open and people have traditionally been supportive of organ and tissue donation--the researchers believe that the results can be generalized to other countries.

"We are convinced that if this type of personal interview and survey were carried out in the U.S.A., at least 50% of the couples would be willing to donate their spare embryos for stem cell research," said Pablo Menendez, director of the Spanish Stem Cell Bank in Granada, Spain.

The new findings "contrast sharply" with a 2003 report, which found that, of 400,000 embryos stored at that time in U.S. fertility clinics, less than 3% were available for research purposes. However, that study was primarily designed to quantify the number of frozen embryos via questionnaires sent to couples before or shortly after their IVF cycles.

In the current study, the couples, who had undergone IVF at least 3 years earlier, were presented with four options for the fate of their surplus embryos. The researchers found that 49% of couples chose to donate their embryos for stem cell research, 44% decided to keep them in storage for their own future use, 7% opted to donate them to other infertile couples, and fewer than 1% made the decision to discard the embryos.

"Among the couples who did not want to increase their family, 90% support the donation of embryos to stem cell research in a Catholic country--and, most importantly, almost no couple wants just to destroy the embryos," Menendez said.

The researchers include Jose Luis Cortes, Fernando Cobo, Angela Barnie, and Pablo Menendez of the Spanish Stem Cell Bank (Andalusian Central Node), Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas in Granada, Spain; Guillermo Antiñolo of Unidad Clínica de Genética y Reproducción, Hospital de la Mujer, Hospitales Universitarios Virgen del Rocio in Sevilla, Spain; Luis Martínez of Unidad de Reproducción Asistida, Hospital Virgen de las Nieves in Granada, Spain; Agustín Zapata of Spanish Stem Cell Bank, Instituto de Salud Carlos III in Madrid, Spain.

This work has been funded by the Fundación Progreso y Salud (grants 0029/2006 and 0030/2006 to P.M.); Consejería de Salud; Junta de Andalucía, Spain; and the International Foundation Jose Carreras (FIJC-05/EDThomas 2006 to P.M.).

Cortes et al: "Spanish Stem Cell Bank Interviews Examine Couples' Interest in Donating Surplus Human IVF Embryos More Than 3 Years Old for Stem Cell Research." Publishing in the July 2007 issue of Cell Stem Cell.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Cell Press.

Lawmaker Pushes stem cell research in Michigan

Charlie Cain / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- A three-bill package of bills that would lift restrictions on stem cell research in Michigan and increase penalties for cloning was unveiled this morning.

"Around the nation, state after state is saying yes to life and cures -- and yes, to jobs -- by embracing and investing in embryonic stem cell research. It's time for Michigan to do the same," said Rep. Andy Meisner, D-Ferndale, who is the main sponsor of the legislation. Gov. Jennifer Granholm supports it.

Meisner said this version is different than one that failed to go anywhere in the last legislative session.

The new package includes a $15 million fine against anyone who engages in cloning, up $5 million from the current penalty. It would keep intact the current 10-year felony for cloning.

It would also require informed, written consent from donors and prohibit donors from receiving any financial benefit for the donation.

Supporters say embryonic stem cell research offers hope in finding eventual cures to debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer, Parkinson's, juvenile diabetes and spinal cord injuries.

Easing Michigan's restrictive law on stem cell research is opposed by influential groups such as the Michigan Catholic Conference and Right to Life of Michigan.

"There's no compromise here and all they've done is added some extra window dressing. This is the same legislation from last year with some bells and whistles," said Ed Rivet, legislative director of Michigan Right to Life.

"They want to legalize the creation of embryos by cloning so they can be destroyed for research purposes."

Danny Heumann, founder of the Daniel Heumann Fund for Spinal Cord Research, took part in this morning's news conference at the state Capitol. The 40-year-old attorney has been confined to a wheelchair for the last 22 years as the result of an automobile accident.

He said he doesn't hold out much hope that the legislation will act on the package of bills.

"I'm saddened that we're doing this again," Heumann said. "The Michigan Legislature doesn't hear the cries of the vulnerable citizens of the state."

He said the best alternative would be to launch a petition drive to place the issues before Michigan voters. But he said that campaign could cost as much as $20 million to run.

Senate Prepares For New Showdown Over Stem Cell Research Dollars

by Trish Turner
The Democratically controlled Senate is headed for yet another showdown with President Bush next week, this time over embryonic stem cell research paid for with taxpayer dollars.

On Wednesday, with the likely support of about a third of Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats are expected to pass a bill sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, that expands the field of embryonic stem cell research using federal dollars.

However, with much of the party leadership focused intensely on the recent imbroglio over the Iraq war spending bill, this year's debate has little of the fanfare of past fights.

But this year, Democrats are actually closer than ever before to getting the two-thirds majority needed to override the president's promised veto. In fact, based on past vote tallies and the positions of new members entering the Senate after the November election, the Senate is likely to come up one vote shy of the 66 votes needed for a veto override (if only Sen Tim Johnson, D-S.D., recovering from brain surgery, is absent for the vote).

Aides say the pressure is on politically vulnerable members like Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., who has voted against this research in the past.

The bill requires "the secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct and support research that utilizes human embryonic stem cells, regardless of the date on which the stem cells were derived from a human embryo."

Current Bush administration policy permits research on human embryonic stem cell lines that existed before the president announced the policy on August 10, 2001.

There are limitations in the Harkin bill. Stem cells can only be taken from excess human embryos that would otherwise be destroyed and are donated from in vitro fertilization, as long as donors give "written, informed consent and receive no financial or other inducements."

One bill that is not expected to pass but has garnered the support of the White House is sponsored by Republican Sens. Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Johnny of Georgia. It allows the use of federal funds for research with stem cells extracted from "dead" human embryos or extracted from embryos without destroying them. It would also promote the extraction of stem cells from other sources, like amniotic fluid.

Even if Senate Democrats can garner the votes needed to defy Bush, the fate of embryonic stem cell research is likely to be unchanged this year. The House passed a similar measure to Harkin's in January, but it fell well short of the two-thirds majority needed for a veto override.

Opponents have condemned this kind of research as unethical and immoral because it involves destroying human embryos which have the potential, they say, to become human life.

More Govs Boost Stem Cell Research

By Christine Vestal
As Congress and the Bush administration remain deadlocked over funding for stem cell research, three new Democratic governors have joined other state leaders in supporting the controversial science.

Last week, New York's Eliot Spitzer won legislative approval for $600 million for stem cell research and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts began trying to undo a state regulation that hinders the research there. Iowa Gov. Chet Culver signed a law in February repealing that state's ban on the nascent science.

All three - newcomers to the governor's mansion -- pledged to support stem cell research in their election campaigns. They join a half-dozen other governors from both parties - including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell (R), Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) -- who have backed the research for its promised medical breakthroughs and potential economic rewards.

Since August 9, 2001, when President George W. Bush curtailed federal funding of stem cell research, states have stepped in to keep the fledgling science afloat by providing state money and removing legal barriers to its practice.

Last July, Bush exercised his first presidential veto by refusing to sign a bill that would have expanded federal funding for the science. This year, the new Democratic-led U.S. House passed the same bill - releasing money for stem cell research using surplus embryos from in vitro fertilization clinics - and the U.S. Senate is expected to approve the same bill. But political analysts say Congress is not likely to muster enough votes to override a promised presidential veto.

Although a recent ABC survey showed the American public favors government funding of stem cell studies by a margin of two to one, Bush and his anti-abortion allies remain opposed because they say it violates the sanctity of human life by destroying embryos.

Democrats are united in supporting the science, along with such high-profile Republicans as Nancy Reagan, whose loved ones have had Alzheimers' and other diseases that might be ameliorated by the research.

New York's new budget measure will make the Empire State the sixth state - California, New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut and Maryland are the others -- to finance stem cell research. It would create the second largest state research fund in the country - $600 million over 11 years. California's grant program is the largest, setting aside $3 billion over 10 years to support the research.

Wisconsin -- where the research was developed -- does not provide state grants, but Doyle has set secured and private money to build a research institute where stem cell studies may be conducted.

Both Spitzer and his predecessor, Republican Gov. George Pataki, pushed lawmakers to approve stem cell funding in part to attract investment to the state's economically depressed upstate region, home to stem cell leaders Cornell University, University of Rochester and other medical research centers.

Patrick's proposed change to public health rules would lift a barrier to the research created by his Republican predecessor, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, an opponent of stem cell research.

In 2005, the Massachusetts legislature overrode Romney's veto and repealed a previous law requiring local district attorneys to approve all scientific research involving human embryos. The new law set up ethical guidelines and granted blanket approval to studies involving surplus human embryos from in vitro fertilization clinics. Romney subsequently moved administratively to block the research.

At Patrick's request, the Massachusetts Dept. of Health and Human Services is expected to nullify Romney's action. In February, Culver signed a law repealing a 2002 stem cell research ban. Iowa's new law removes the state from a list of six - Michigan, Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana, North Dakota and South Dakota -- that currently ban the science.

UNLOCKING PROMISE OF STEM CELLS - But Research Brings Ethical Questions

BY MARTHA STODDARD -- Lincoln Journal Star

Lymphoma struck Rochelle Dyer eight years earlier than it had hit her father. He was 35 when the Hodgkin's disease made its first appearance. Four rounds later — in 1991 — he died. She was 27 when a chronic cough, vomiting and loss of appetite sent her to the doctor last summer. But the Lincoln woman has a better chance of beating her disease for good because of a treatment called peripheral stem cell transplant pioneered at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
After several rounds of chemotherapy to shrink the tumors on her lung and spleen, the treatment involved taking a relatively small number of cells from her blood, killing off her immune system, and giving the cells back to make her whole again.

Dyer got her cells back on Dec. 13. They multiplied many times over within the next few days. Some repopulated her bone marrow. Some turned into oxygen-carrying red blood cells. Others became infection-fighting white blood cells. She left the hospital at the end of 2000 — heading home to her husband, Trevor, and 16-month-old son, Ethan. "After this I won't have any more chemotherapy," she said. "I'll get strong and go on. They said this will do it, this will fix me."

It's miraculous still, although the treatment has been used with success for more than a decade. It relies on blood stem cells — unique cells that renew themselves indefinitely and produce the specialized blood cells of the body.
Blood stem cells have given thousands of cancer patients like Dyer another shot at life. But what if those cells — or other types of stem cells — could be harnessed to save millions more lives? What if they could replace heart muscle cells killed by heart attacks? Or restore insulin-producing beta cells in diabetics?
What if they could build nerve bridges across severed spinal cords? Regenerate dopamine-producing brain cells for people with Parkinson's disease? Rev up the immune systems of people infected with HIV? Or grow new skin for burn patients? Those are among the dreams of scientists involved with stem cell research.

"The way things are going, I won't call it science fiction, but a real possibility," said Iqbal Ahmad, a molecular and cellular biologist who directs the Medical Center's Neural Stem Cell Research Program in Omaha. Turning that possibility into reality faces many hurdles, not the least of which is a political, ethical and legal debate over acceptable sources of stem cells.

At their most basic, stem cells are cells that can divide indefinitely and produce more specialized cells. The very first cell of a human's life -- the fertilized egg -- is a stem cell.
It is called totipotent because it can do it all. From it grows the embryo and the placenta, the amniotic sac and the developing fetus. Descendants of that cell comprise the more than 200 types of specialized cells that make the human body function. All of the 100 or so cells that form week-old embryos are stem cells, too. They already have lost some potential — they cannot form a placenta or amniotic sac. But they are pluripotent and can become any other part of the developing human.
That broad potential makes embryonic stem cells the focus of considerable excitement among both scientists and patient groups. Two teams of researchers — one in Wisconsin and one in Maryland — have already figured how to keep embryonic stem cells alive in the laboratory. And a world of promise opens up if scientists can figure out how to steer them down desired paths.

The cells could unlock the mysteries of human development and show what goes wrong in some babies. They could be used to test drugs and chemicals, showing how they affect human cells without putting human beings at risk.
And they could provide the cells, and maybe even organs, needed to return diseased or damaged bodies to health. "Almost any disease or injury that you can imagine. anything from spina bifida to spinal cord injury could be treated," said Daniel Perry, chairman of the national Patients Coalition for Urgent Research.
But using human embryonic stem cells means destroying an embryo, which many call an unethical and immoral act that should put the research off limits despite its promise. "There's the basic principle that we apply and that ethics applies and that is: Do no harm. Research should be at the service of life and not the other way around," said Greg Schleppenbach, director of the Catholic Bishops' Pastoral Plan for Pro Life Activities.

By the time humans are born, and after they grow up, they still have stem cells — adult, multipotent stem cells with more limited potential. Each type of adult stem cell produces only a few types of body tissue — only blood cells