With the passage of last year’s Proposition 71 and the
creation of a new stem cell research institute at UCLA, recent
graduates will have many opportunities in cancer research over the
next 10 years.
Inaugurated in March, the UCLA Institute for Stem Cell Biology
and Medicine was a joint effort between the Geffen School of
Medicine, UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center, the Samueli School of
Engineering and the UCLA College.
The institute draws together experts from various disciplines
and departments on campus ““ ranging from engineering to law
““ to conduct embryonic and adult stem cell research and
explore its implications for society.
According to the findings of Jonsson Cancer Center researchers,
stem cells are becoming increasingly pertinent to cancer treatment,
making this new institution an advance into the next wave of cancer
medical response.
Dr. Judith Gasson, director of the Jonsson Cancer Center, said,
“The stem cell institute represents the first campus-wide
effort (to address stem cell research holistically).”
Knowledge reaped from the institute’s research will be
applied to the development of treatment of HIV, cancer and
neurological disorders.
The institute will receive $20 million in funding over five
years from UCLA, which will pay for the recruitment of 12 new
faculty members, the expansion of a sophisticated laboratory and
supplies.
Though UCLA currently raises the funds for the institute, its
timely formation poises it to receive funding from the state as a
result of Proposition 71, passed in the November 2004 elections,
which will allot $3 billion for stem cell research in California
over the next 10 years.
This May, the new institute applied for training grants, which
are the first form of stem cell research funding offered.
“We have to train the next generation of
scientists,” Gasson said. Training grants will allow UCLA the
funding to bring new students and scientists into the field of stem
cell research.
Stem cell research will relate to cancer research in several
ways.
Traditional cancer treatment employs chemotherapy, which does
not discriminate between healthy and cancerous cells. It often
destroys the bone marrow of patients, necessitating
replacement.
Several researchers at the cancer center are currently examining
how stem cells could be used to cultivate viable marrow for
patients unable to secure compatible donors.
“Particularly important will be the ability to create
cells for regeneration,” said Dr. Owen Witte, director of the
new institute.
Findings within the last two years indicate stem cells
themselves may actually be a source of some cancers.
“It’s a bit paradoxical that stem cells may be both
the cure for the disease, and the cause of the disease,”
Gasson said.
Current treatments kill the outcropping of a tumor, but not the
source of the cancer, which may be mutated stem cells.
By studying stem cells and what causes them to mutate,
researchers may be able to learn more about cancer prevention.
Also, new lines of stem cells will be available for study at the
institute because the funding derives from the state. New batches
of stem cells have not recently been studied in federally funded
research venues due to an executive order in 2001 maintaining that
only previously established stem cell lines may be used for
research.
Given the vast progress achieved in the last 10 years, Gasson
has high hopes for new developments in cancer treatment over the
next decade.
“This is the end of the beginning,” said Gasson,
explaining that cancer research is leaving its nascent age.
She added that she believes UCLA graduates have the talent to
play an important part in this era and that “UCLA will be a
leading factor in medical technology during the first part of the
21st century.”
The institute provides “an opportunity for the education
and training that will make (graduates) competitive in the
scientific community,” Witte said.