Leaders in the stem cell industry have converged on Madison for a couple of days. The city is hosting a worldwide summit on stem cell research. Scientists believe it could someday provide cures for diseases such as Parkinson’s or cancer. While the industry has changed, Wisconsin has remained at the forefront of the research. The industry has changed somewhat, but Wisconsin has remained at the forefront, and that’s why it’s ground zero this week. WUWM’s Marti Mikkelson reports.
One host of the summit is the WiCell Research Institute of Madison. It houses the National Stem Cell Bank that contains 21 embryonic stem cell lines. Executive Director Erik Forsberg says since the Bush Administration restricted funding for embryonic stem cell research eight years ago, the industry has been working to create stem cells from skin. And researchers at UW-Madison last year succeeded in turning ordinary skin cells into stem cells or iPS cells. Forsberg says the technique will take center stage at the summit.
“What’s unique about the iPS cells is that they come theoretically from our own genetics, so we can take our own skin cells, and this is kind of a dream but I think it’s a real possibility that we could convert them into iPS cells and have them stored for potential use in any disease we might develop,” Forsberg says.
Forsberg says one advantage of skin cell technology is that it doesn’t involve destroying a human embryo. That has been the Bush Administration’s objection. Forsberg says skin cells are now being genetically reprogrammed to mimic embryonic stem cells.
“And that’s where a lot of the excitement lies. The new iPS cell field has created a huge explosion of research in that area. Ando so people all over the world are developing new cell lines, studying existing cell lines. It’s a big area of research,” Forsberg says.
Forsberg says the Madison company opened a bank of skin cells in August, and supplies both skin and embryonic stem cells to research labs around the world.
One facility that gets its stem cell lines from the bank is the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. John Lough says skin cell technology shows promise, especially in work the college is doing to regenerate liver cells. He’s been researching the ability of embryonic stem cells to restore heart function, but says it remains to be seen when studies will move from animal to human trials.
“It’s really hard to say. This would be not only work we’re doing here but work that’s being done on the national/international scale. As I look at the landscape of trying to regenerate the myocardium, it’s my view that we’re still quite a long way off from doing this,” Lough says.
The feasibility of moving to clinical trials is another topic up for discussion at the conference in Madison. Gov. Jim Doyle will be one of the keynote speakers. He says it’s fitting that Wisconsin was chosen to host the conference because the most significant breakthroughs in stem cell research have happened here. They include not only the recent conversion of skin into stem cells; but Wisconsin was also the first to actually isolate and reproduce stem cells. And Doyle says it’s all helped fuel the state’s biotechnology industry.
“We now have over 400 biotech companies in the state. They contribute between $8 and $9 billion to our economy and employ over 34,000 people,” Doyle says.
Doyle says Wisconsin must continue to invest in world-renowned research centers in order to maintain its competitive edge. At least one major funding source has recognized Wisconsin’s achievements. Last year, the National Institutes of Health gave UW Madison $48 million. The governor says that’s more money the Institutes granted for research than any other public university in the country.
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