Stem cells could be big business for state

President-elect Obama’s expected action on the isolation of new embryonic stem cell lines is welcome news to many; but frankly, it will have little impact on speeding stem cell therapies for the majority of Americans who need them. Those in need of therapies will continue to wait.

The initial outcome of the president-elect’s act is simple: Researchers in states such as California and New York that made major investments to fund and create new stem cell lines will have more flexibility. Instead of duplicating laboratories —- one for federal funding and one for state funding —- labs in these states can combine stem cell lines in one laboratory, which will free up resources for additional research.

However, advancing stem cell therapies will require more financial investment from both the public and private sectors.

Little new research will happen in Georgia if only new lines are allowed and dollars aren’t available to turn them into therapies. Thankfully, despite political setbacks, stem cell researchers in Georgia haven’t sat on the sidelines during the Bush administration.

Although politics put us behind some of the more progressive states, Georgia institutions have a proven, competitive record for being awarded scarce federal funds.

The University of Georgia is advancing the basic understanding of stem cells in cancer and drug discovery and is determining the effectiveness of new stem cell therapies. The Medical College of Georgia is advancing nonembryonic stem cell therapies. Emory University announced participation in a cell therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and recently hosted a meeting on the use of cellular therapies in the treatment of lung injury.

The Georgia Tech/Emory Center on regenerative medicine is combining stem cells with biomaterials and developing related enabling technologies. GTEC recently brought together industrial and university leaders in a workshop on stem cell biomanufacturing that focused on translating advances in basic stem cell biology into the therapies needed for patients.

Through federal research grants, Georgia is training the next generation of stem cell scientists for an ever-expanding commercial market. Economic impact studies suggest that stem cell companies will have sales exceeding $3 billion per year by the end of this year with annual growth rates of greater than 10 percent.

Some of our trained stem cell graduate students have been recruited to fledgling stem cell companies in Georgia, but most of our best are snatched up by Ivy League schools and companies in other states. If we don’t create opportunities here, we will continue to lose these leaders and fall further behind.

Our goal should not end at education; rather, we also must attract the companies to the state to keep our best here in rewarding careers.

> Steve L. Stice is the director of the University of Georgia Regenerative Bioscience Center.

> Robert M. Nerem is the Parker H. Petit Professor for Engineering in Medicine at the Georgia Institute of Technology.