For those of you still clinging to the thought that New Jersey might come through for human embryonic stem cell research, here is more evidence that the New Jersey Program is NOT about embryonic stem cell research at all:
Moore and her husband, Ihor Lemischka, now director of the Black Family Stem Cell Institute at Mt. Sinai, recently left Princeton University after nearly two decades. "We were concerned with the direction that the New Jersey effort was headed, and the lack of prominent stem cell biologists in New Jersey."
http://www.the-scientist.com/...
Ihor Lemischka was the ONLY 2006 NJ grant recipient for hESCR out of 17 grants awarded that year, yet he has chosen to leave for NY after nearly two decades in New Jersey.
Indeed, added Moore, the numerous large pharmaceutical companies in New Jersey seem to have taken the place of academic endeavors in stem cell science.
Aha, here we have that dreaded Big Pharma connection creeping into the confines of embryonic stem cell research.
It's sad to see pro-human embryonic stem cell research advocates still supporting a program that has misled them from the start.
Even more recently another embryonic stem cell researcher who has been working with mouse embryonic stem cells has also chosen to leave New Jersey.
an October 31, 2007 Press Release shows that NJ is losing yet another leading stem cell researcher, this time to CT:
http://www.yale.edu/...
"At Princeton, Ivanova worked to dissect the molecular mechanisms by which mouse embryonic stem cells are able to renew themselves. These studies uncovered a novel signature of gene expression in stem cells (Science, 2002) and introduced a high-throughput method to identify the function of each gene (Nature, 2006), work that she will continue at Yale."
I wonder if Ivanova will be translating her mouse ESC work to human ESCR at Yale.......
That certainly is something I will be looking into.
Many folks are starting to comment about the pro-embryonic stem cell research advocates having failed to secure New Jersey as a human embryonic stem cell research state:
http://thestemcellblog.com/...
Monya Baker ( Editor of Nature):
Armitage implies that something other than pursuit of science is behind grants for cord blood research. A bit of poking around the web didn’t give me enough information to confirm or refute this. New Jerseyans should demand more clarity.
Who is applying for the grants? Who is deciding what gets funded? If the emphasis is on getting into human trials quickly, that will favor some sorts of nonembryonic research. Whether to emphasize medical applications over basic research is a political question on how resources should be invested. It is not a scientific one.
David Jensen:
One wonders where the advocates of hESC were when the money was being handed out. Did they miss the boat?
Are adult stem cell researchers and supporters in control of the grant process? Is it closed to public view?
If there is a problem with the New Jersey measure in the sense that it doesn’t give top priority to hESC research, it is too late to fix now.
Activists on this issue needed to address that many months ago. That means they needed access early on to the entire political and government process that conjures up ballot measures. Yet often activists sign on with groups that support closed-door proceedings and secrecy in the awarding of grants and development of policy, legislation and ballot measures. They need to carefully consider what is their own best interests and not become co-opted by industry or seduced by fantasies of instant cures.
As I've said in my previous diaries, it is shameful that New Jersey is misleading the voters into believing they are voting for the research that Bush won't allow.
The voters clearly think they are voting for an embryonic stem cell research program, when in the past two years New Jersey has handed out 33 grants, and ONLY 2 actually went to human embryonic stem cell research.
One of those researchers, Ivor Lemischka, has now left, and confirmed he did not like the direction of the New Jersey Stem Cell Program.
Dr Gearhart, who was approached to head the New Jersey Stem Cell Program was likewise concerned that $ 270 worth of buildings were being built first, before much money had even gone to researchers. His comment:
it goes against his belief,.....that money (ought to) be spent on researchers first. The buildings come later, he said.
http://www.nj.com/...
Well, I don't feel like getting into this any more. Make up your own mind about the $450 million bond issue to be voted on tomorrow.
However, if we couldn't trust them to tell us that their focus would be on umbilical cord blood stem cells instead of embryonic stem cells, don't expect any significant embryonic stem cell research in New Jersey at all.
All of this is painful for me and my paralyzed son to see, as Dr. Kerr of Maryland has this to say about umbilical cord blood stem cells:
"adult stem cells aren’t an option. He tried to generate spinal motor neurons from adult stem cells and cells isolated from umbilical cord blood, but decided that programming a blank slate—hESCs—is far more efficient than deprogramming specialized cells and redirecting them toward a different fate."
http://biology.plosjournals.org/...
I'm against research for the sake of research.
I'm against clinical trials for the sake of clinical trials.
Throwing money at researchers is NOT the answer:
http://stemblog.net/...
I know this is a hodge podge of info, but you get the drift: WE, the embryonic stem cell research supporters, have been deceived in New Jersey.