The UCLA Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine was only
created last December, but has developed quickly and has
established projects aimed at finding treatments for HIV, cancers
and other incurable illnesses.
Stem cells, the undifferentiated building block of all cells in
the human body, have the unique potential to transform into any one
of the 200 cell types that make up the human body, and many
researchers believe that stem cells may be able to provide
treatment or even cures for some devastating health conditions.
“Many of us believe that stem cell research will be the
most important technological advance in the 21st century because it
may help us treat people with AIDS, cancer, neurological diseases
such as Parkinson’s, and other health problems,” said
Judith C. Gasson, the institute’s co-director and a UCLA
professor.
Embryonic cells, which are one of the easiest forms of stem
cells to cultivate for experimentation in laboratories, require the
destruction of a human embryo, a mass that has grown to 150 cells
or less.
“Embryonic stem cells have the power to develop into every
type of human tissue,” said the institute’s director,
Owen Witte, who also is a professor of microbiology, immunology and
molecular genetics at UCLA.
Due to their flexibility and the wide range of cells that they
can develop into, scientists believe embryonic stem cells have
almost unlimited therapeutic potential.
“If we can learn how they are regulated for growth and
development, we can harness this knowledge to study tissue
development and regeneration and potentially come up with new ways
to fight many life-threatening diseases,” Witte said.
Research on embryonic cells are the source of some controversy,
because some argue that these cells are equivalent to a life.
President Bush has put limits on the research into embryonic
stem cells and on the federal funding for such work, which has
slowed the funding of organizations such as the UCLA Institute for
Stem Cell Biology and Medicine.
In March, the UCLA college announced that they would provide an
annual $20 million grant for the next 5 years.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a state
organization, recently contributed $3.75 million to help train
scientists in the UCLA Institute.
State funds for stem cell research are essential for the
continuation of progress at research centers such as the UCLA
Institute, because of the current federal policy that restricts
scientists from using federal funds or even equipment paid for with
federal money to perform research on groups of stem cells that were
created after August 2001.
Much of the available state funding is a result of Proposition
71, which voters passed last year to fund a $3 billion program of
embryonic stem cell research.
Lawsuits facing the California Institute for Regenerative
Medicine, filed by anti-tax and anti-abortion groups, have slowed
down the distribution of state grant funds to the UCLA Stem Cell
Institute.
With the help of state funds, the UCLA institute plans to
participate in research that seeks to shed more light on cancer
stem cells and how they develop. Right now, there are many
questions about stem cells and how they work.
The UCLA Institute will help scientists nationwide to answer
these questions, focusing primarily on how stem cells can be used
to cure HIV, cancer and neurobiological disorders.
UCLA scientists will look into how stem cells operate in each of
these cases and what therapeutic potential they have.
Together with the UCLA AIDS Institute, UCLA scientists and
researchers have already begun and made progress in a clinical
trial where they are attempting to use adult stem cells to combat
HIV. With little currently known about cancer stem cells, UCLA has
the potential to be a leader finding new therapies for the
disease.
Stem cells have the potential to help individuals with various
types of cancers in two primary ways: by using stem cells to
actually fight the cancer, and also in replenishing tissues that
have been lost to cancer. Both of these possibilities are currently
being investigated at the UCLA Institute.
Scientists at that Jonsson Cancer Center are already
investigating how stem cells can be used against cancer, and this
work will be incorporated into the research being conducted at the
Stem Cell Institute.
Another project for UCLA Institute includes looking into how
stem cells can fight neurological disorders such as strokes, brain
tumors, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease.
Most of the faculty structure for the Stem Cell Institute has
already been established, and the executive staff continue to
appoint top researchers in the most innovative fields.
“We’ve been working very hard on recruiting new
faculty … new designations have been made over the summer,”
said Witte.
And Witte said because the Stem Cell Institute is located at
UCLA, it has something to offer the field that most institutes
would not.
“One thing that makes UCLA unique is that we have almost
every conceivable facet of academia on campus; we must take
advantage of that,” he said.
The Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine is a
collaborative effort between the David Geffen School of Medicine,
UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center, the Henry Samueli School of
Engineering and Applied Science, and the UCLA College.
“With the launch of this institute, we realize our goal of
bringing together scientific, ethical, legal and policy experts
from across the UCLA campus to focus on the great promise of stem
cell research,” said Gerald Levey, vice chancellor for
medical sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of
Medicine.
Undergraduate and graduate student researchers are encouraged to
contribute to the field of stem cell research, Gasson said, adding
that students who are interested in the field should ask their
professors for research opportunities.
“We must train current students as well as the future
generations in order to repopulate the current researchers and
continue building the knowledge base,” she said.