The Institute for Regeneration Medicine
University of California, San Francisco
site:http://stemcell.medschool.ucsf.edu/ |
UCSF San Francisco |
Stem Cell Facts: http://stemcellfacts.ucsf.edu/ |
Gail Martin's Lab: http://www.ucsf.edu/grmlab/ |
The human body consists of approximately 200 cell types. Each of these cells has a special task to perform: A brain cell differs from a liver cell, a muscle cell from a heart cell, etc. Because of these differences, these cells are sometimes called "differentiated."
When human embryos begin to develop, their cells are not yet differentiated. Scientists now know that all of the body’s different cell types STEM from a master cell with the remarkable potential to generate all the cell types the body needs. During the first week of development, when the human embryo is still a hollow sphere, these master cells emerge. These cells are called “embryonic stem cells,” a term coined by UCSF researcher Gail Martin.
Gail Martin
co-discovered the cells in mice
in 1981. Scientists are now able to isolate human embryonic stem cells
(usually from donated human embryos left over following fertility treatments)
and study them in the laboratory.
Their goals:
To find the signals
(the right mix of growth factors,
for example)
that make these master cells
specialize into different cell types.
To craft and transplant exactly
the right cells that patients need
to stabilize or perhaps even
cure such diseases as diabetes, heart disease,
Parkinson’s, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s
disease), spinal cord injury and osteoporosis.
To study the steps of embryonic
stem cell differentiation into specialized cells,
in order to identify the genetic
missteps that cause diseases such as diabetes,
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS) and some cancers, and
that account for some cases
of birth defects and infertility.
Our goals are to develop strategies for accelerating progress
toward the treatment and cure of various diseases and to identify areas
of need to guide future recruitment activities. We continue to organize
and expand the stem cell community at UCSF and to forge research alliances
with other institutions. We are in the process of recruiting several world-renowned
faculty, who will begin working at UCSF in November 2006
Story: http://www.stemcellfunding.org/news_detail.aspx?id=051106A |
$16M Stem Cell Center
Sound pioneer Ray Dolby and his wife gave $16 million to the University of California, San Francisco to start a stem cell center that will perform research without federal funds, the school announced Wednesday.
The Institute for Regeneration
Medicine,
which was previously called
the Institute for Stem Cell and Tissue Biology,
will be the primary stem cell
research center on campus.
"The discovery of stem cells was a wonderful thing but, unfortunately, this name by itself does not seem to very well suggest what is happening or how," Dolby said, referring to the renamed institute in a written statement. "Moreover, the term 'stem cell' seems to have acquired a negative meaning with some people."
An undisclosed amount of money is still needed to build the center, which will perform research on stem cells extracted from human embryos after Aug. 9, 2001, the date President Bush cut off eligibility for federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research.
Bush, many social conservatives
and others who believe life begins at conception view stem cell work as
immoral because human embryos are destroyed during the research.
UCSF researchers have recently received approval from
internal ethics and scientific boards to begin cloning human embryos for
research purposes.
The school is expected to soon
receive its first shipment of eggs that were unable to be fertilized and
were donated by a fertility clinic. To clone, scientists insert genetic
material from an adult cell into the eggs to make realistic disease models.
The $16 million gift was the second sizable donation the
founder of Dolby Laboratories Inc. has made to stem cell research. Last
year, Dolby donated $5 million to the California Institute for Regenerative
Medicine, the state's $3 billion stem cell research agency, to help it
pay its bills while it fought lawsuits blocking its ability to borrow money.
A judge last month ruled in the state's favor, but appeals are expected to tie up the agency's bond financing until next year.
Dolby, founder and chairman of Dolby Laboratories, was listed as worth $1.6 billion in Forbes magazine's most recent listing of billionaires.
The University of California,
San Francisco
has received a $16 million donation
to help create a stem cell research center that will operate without U.S.
government funding.
The donation, from sound pioneer Ray Dolby and his wife, will support the Institute for Regeneration Medicine, which was previously called the Institute for Stem Cell and Tissue Biology, the Associated Press reported.
More money is still needed to build the center, which will conduct research on stem cells extracted from human embryos after August 9, 2001. That's the date that President George W. Bush cut off eligibility for U.S. government funding of human embryonic stem cell research.
Bush is among those who believe
this kind of stem cell research is immoral because human embryos are destroyed
during the research. Internal ethics and scientific boards at UCSF recently
gave approval to scientists to being cloning human embryos for their research,
the AP reported
UCSF: http://access.ucsf.edu/ |
