California takes lead in stem cell research

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - With the passing of Proposition 71,California is poised to become the world leader in stem cellresearch.

Proponents hope the $3 billion the measure will inject into stemcell research in the state will help fill the void left by the Bushadministration's 2001 decision to limit federal funding for embryonicstem cell research to existing cell lines. And scientists say thestate funding will accelerate their quest to develop treatments andcures for a slew of diseases including diabetes, Alzheimer's disease,Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.

"It's a huge win for California science and is going to makeCalifornia the mecca for stem cell research," said George Daley, astem cell researcher at Harvard University. "I'm jealous."

But the stem cell research field is still very much in its infancyand even with the new state funds, the technologies that would formthe basis for the promised cures are several years off, and theactual cures may be a decade or more in the making.

"There's still a lot of basic science that needs to be done," saidLeonard Zon, a stem cell researcher at Children's Hospital Boston andthe president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

A number of technical hurdles need to be cleared along the way,said Zon, including how to coax the stem cells to develop intodifferent types of cells and tissues, and how to transplant them intoa patient. Research needs to be done in animals and eventually inhuman clinical trials. Despite the scientific challenges, researchersare adamant about the potential.

Normally, a promising new research area would receive a jumpstartfrom the National Institutes of Health in the early stages before itspotential is proven and scientists can hope to attract investmentfrom other sources.

But because of the Bush administration's decision to limitembryonic stem cell funding because of concerns about the use offertilized human egg cells, the tens of millions that the NIH spendsannually on stem cell research cannot be spent on experimentsinvolving new embryonic stem cell lines. Some scientists say thisdecree has stunted growth in the budding field and has given anadvantage to countries like Great Britain, where the governmentsupports embryonic stem cell research.

"The United States has a huge brain trust on stem cells, but insome of the other countries they can do experiments that stem cellresearchers in the United States wish they could do," said Zon. "Nowwith the California state money, U.S. researchers will be able to dothose experiments. California will have a major advantage in beingable to recruit the best scientists in the field."

Some opponents of Proposition 71 argued that $3 billion is toomuch for a state with the severe budgetary problems of California tobe spending on an unproven research field that isn't likely toproduce cures or treatments that can bring in revenue for decades.All told, the measure will end up costing California $6 billion - $3billion in initial expenditures over 10 years and $3 billion ininterest over 30 years.

But with the new funding, stem cell research groups and biotechcompanies will immediately begin hiring more scientists and staff,building new laboratories and research centers, and purchasingsupplies - all moves that could help the local economy in the shortterm, said UC San Francisco geneticist Renee Reijo Pera.

"I think we need to invest in the future," Reijo Pera said.

Once local researchers get over the initial hump of setting uplabs and recruiting researchers and have experiments underway, morefunding will begin flowing into the state, said Reijo Pera.

The stem cell field could be the next boom to fill the void leftby the Internet bust, she said.

Other efforts are already underway in New Jersey (Rutgers) andMassachusetts (Harvard).