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Home > Plasmid: Science and bio-tech research blog > Archives > 2006 > January > 23 > Entry

Time to Lift Stem Cell Restrictions? A Nobel Laureate Speaks Out

By Stacey Singer | Monday, January 23, 2006, 05:56 PM

Paul Greengard shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2000 for his work illuminating how neurons transmit chemical messages.

Greengard was in Palm Beach on Jan. 12 and 13 for a meeting of The Scripps Research Institute’s board of scientific governors. At a gala dinner at The Breakers on the 13th, Greengard chatted at length with state Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, and Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson about the potential for stem cell research, and the effect that federal restrictions are having on its progress.

Aaronson is the founder of Floridians for Stem Cell Research and Cures, the group hoping to amend Florida’s constitution to protect and fund stem cell research. Klein has introduced a bill to do something similar: Provide $15 million a year for 10 years in state money for embryonic and adult stem-cell research.

With Florida politics now focused on stem cell research, Aaronson and Klein told Greengard it would be helpful if he would put his views in writing. Greengard did so in a letter dated Jan. 17, 2006. While Greengard does not take a stance on the Florida policy debate, in his letter, he says the federal restrictions are hindering scientific progress, and should be lifted.

Greengard’s letter is below. What do you think? Should embryonic stem cell research be paid for with public dollars? Add your comments.

“…I have thought long and hard about the difficult questions raised by research on human stem cells, and discussed the subject extensively with those colleagues at The Rockefeller University and around the nation whom I most respect. There is an extremely strong consensus that the restriction currently placed upon federal funding of this research should be lifted.

High quality research on human stem cells has tremendous potential to advance medicine. If we can learn enough from this research, it may be possible to generate life-giving tissues for transplantation, providing new hope for people afflicted by illnesses for which few if any effective treatments are available. Stem cell-based transplantation therapies show promise in helping people born with juvenile diabetes, as well as the growing populations suffering from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Having worked for many decades to unravel the intricacies of the nervous system, I am especially curious to explore new approaches to understanding and treating neurological disorders.

Based on my discussions with leading investigators in the field, there are many problems with the current policy limiting Federal grants to research on cell lines created before August 9, 2001. There is general agreement that existing cell lines may be useful for preliminary studies of stem cell differentiation and maturation, but they are not likely to meet the long term needs of research. At this point, no one is even sure how many of these cell lines exist. Researchers who have attempted to obtain these materials have frequently been told that the cell populations are still being prepared for distribution, and no details are provided as to when they will be available. Faced with these procedural problems, scientists are already finding it difficult to plan their research programs. In addition, a great many scientists are concerned that dividing populations of stem cells will decline in quality as they age, rendering them virtually useless. With the current restrictions on access to new cell lines, many investigators in the field feel that real progress is next to impossible.

This being said, biomedical science must adhere to the very highest ethical standards in any research that involves human subjects or human tissues. Based on my knowledge and what I have learned from my colleagues, new cell lines can be developed without insult to the sanctity of human life. Stem cells for research are derived from very early embryos consisting of 60 to 1000 cells. This blastocyst stage occurs before attachment to the uterus. The stem cells derived from a blastocyst do not have the potential to become an independent organism.

New stem cell populations can be derived from blastocysts that are now stored in the freezers of infertility clinics, which routinely produce multiple embryos for in vitro fertilization. Early embryos that would otherwise be destroyed could be donated for this purpose by couples who have received in vitro fertilization services. The integrity of this process can be preserved through rigorous regulations designed to ensure that every donation is strictly voluntary and made only after complete informed consent has been obtained.

As with any field of research so new, it is best to proceed carefully with human stem cell research. In the balance, however, I believe it would be beneficial to begin offering federal grants to academic laboratories that wish to pursue research on newly developed human stem cell populations.”

Yours sincerely, Paul Greengard Vincent Astor Professor Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience The Rockefeller University New York

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