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Berkeley chancellor named to stem cell oversight committee
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Berkeley
chancellor Robert Birgeneau (left) and Lieutenant Governor
Cruz Bustamante (right) address the audience at the press
event announcing Birgeneau's appointment to a state committee
overseeing stem cell research.
STEVE MCCONNELL PHOTO |
Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau has been named to a state
committee charged with overseeing the implementation of California's
new $3 billion stem cell research effort.
“I'm pleased and honored by this appointment,” Birgeneau
said, following the press announcement by Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante
in Hearst Memorial Mining Building. “This is an important
responsibility, and there is much work to be done.”
California's stem cell research effort is the result of Proposition
71, a $3 billion bond measure approved by 59 percent of the voters
in last November’s election. The measure establishes the
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to coordinate stem
cell research, which has applications in treating a wide range
of human diseases, including cancers, neurological diseases such
as Parkinson’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or
Lou Gehrig’s disease), spinal cord injuries, and diabetes.
The bond measure was put forward in the wake of the Bush administration's
decision to limit federal funding for any research involving destruction
of human embryos, the source of some stem cells. Proposition 71
backers argued that existing stem cell colonies used for research
are unreliable, are contaminated by the mouse cells used as a
growth medium, and cannot be propagated.
The 29-member Independent Citizens Oversight Committee will manage
the institute and appoint another committee responsible for parceling
out research grants beginning in March. In addition to Birgeneau,
other appointees include several deans of top medical schools
in the state, including David Kessler of UCSF, Claire Pomeroy
of UC Davis, and Philip Pizzo of Stanford.
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At
the press event announcing Birgeneau's appointment, MSE and
bioengineering professor Kevin Healy (left) demonstrates for
Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante (right) the new hydrogel medium his
lab is creating for growing stem cells.
STEVE MCCONNELL PHOTO |
At the press event, Berkeley officials gave Bustamante and reporters
a tour of the Hearst Mining lab where BioE and MSE professor Kevin
Healy is developing a new synthetic medium for growing stem cells.
The medium is hydrogel, a sticky substance similar to contact
lens material, which would provide a safer and cleaner environment
for growing stem cells than the current medium, which uses mouse
cells and is vulnerable to contamination.
Healy currently uses a stem cell line approved by the Bush administration
and stored at UCSF to do his research. He is a faculty affiliate
with the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research
(QB3), one of the four California Institutes for Science and Innovation
sponsoring multidisciplinary research in the sciences, engineering,
and mathematics.
By Noel Gallagher, UC Berkeley Media
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