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Stem Cell Research Soars
updated: Oct 29, 2012, 12:30 PM
Source: UCSB
Biomedical research at UC Santa Barbara has catapulted to a position of
leadership in the arena of stem cell biology, offering progress toward cures for
vision diseases such as macular degeneration. Stem cell research has the
potential to transform the practice of medicine, by replacing diseased tissue
with healthy new cells. Interdisciplinary teams of UCSB researchers -- including
world-renowned faculty members recruited from the U.S. and Britain -- are
leading the charge. The university's newly renovated lab space is critical to
the mission.
The latest research holds the promise of developing stem cells from skin, called
induced pluripotent stem cells, which could eventually replace the use of human
embryonic stem cells. The hope is to find cures for diseases including macular
degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and Alzheimer's.
Campus leaders, dignitaries, scientists, and engineers gathered at UCSB on
Friday to celebrate the completion of a dream: 10,000 square feet of renovated
laboratory space devoted to stem cell research. This was the grand opening
ceremony and ribbon-cutting in celebration of UCSB's Center for Stem Cell
Biology and Engineering, part of the Neuroscience Research Institute. The
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) contributed to the
renovation with a $3.2 million grant that was matched by $3.2 million from UCSB.
The top-flight new laboratories are a magnet for attracting new talent.
UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang commented: "We think UCSB can make important
contributions to stem cell research at the interface of biology, neuroscience,
and engineering. The future is very bright as we continue to grow and add more
top-notch researchers and faculty to this area. These new laboratories will make
this possible."
Kenneth S. Kosik, physician and Harriman Chair in the Department of Molecular,
Cellular, and Developmental Biology, and co-director of the Neuroscience
Research Institute, remarked on this watershed moment in UCSB's stem cell
research. "This is a momentous event," said Kosik. "It's a big milestone for
UCSB to have come from a premier engineering institute to a place where we are
doing world-class work in another entire area, in stem cell biology. With that
triumph, that success, we are moving into world-class ranks here."
Leading stem cell biologist Dennis Clegg, center executive director of strategy,
planning, and operations, and co-principal director of the California Project to
Cure Blindness, has directed the center since its inception, and also directed
strategy for UCSB's specific contribution to stem cell biology.
"We realized that we have a tremendous collection of expertise in
bioengineering, basic molecular biology, and neuroscience," said Clegg. "Those
groups together, working together -- collaborating across normal
interdisciplinary lines -- make for a powerful combination of expertise. And
we've been able to address some of the key problems in stem cell research, like
how to deliver the cells, how to get the cells pure, how to monitor the cells
after transplantation, using this combination of bioengineering and molecular
biology.
"This has been a long process to complete this renovation for the stem cell
center," Clegg said. "It started back in 2007, with our application to CIRM for
a major facilities grant. It involved a large number of people on campus --
scientists, design and construction, administrators.
"We spent many hours figuring out how to come up with matching funds and how to
raise money for the stem cell center. It really is a realization of our dream to
expand stem cell research on campus. We think we have a lot more to offer. The
trajectory is upward; we are really making progress. This will allow us to hire
new people, new faculty, bring them in and collaborate with the group of stellar
scientists that we've already assembled."
One of the new center directors, Peter Coffey, was hired with a CIRM recruitment
grant earlier this year. Coffey, who holds The Garland Chair, and is the
center's executive director of translation, is considered a star in the world of
stem cell science. While at the University College London, he started a group
called the London Project to Cure Blindness, which will begin clinical trials
early next year. Coffey hopes to bring a part of this project to California.
"To be part of UC Santa Barbara at this time is extremely exciting," said
Coffey. "Today we're actually opening the center for stem cell biology and
engineering, bringing two components together which are not available anywhere
else in the world, engineering and stem cell biology together, to transform and
actually speed what is very dear to my heart, which is the translation of
science to it's clinical use."
Coffey said that it was the people involved in stem cell research at UCSB who
drew him to move here. He said that the center has produced "an ‘A' team where
we can actually accelerate a new type of endeavor of using stem cells as a new
type of medicine: regenerative medicine."
Stem cell pioneer James Thomson, center co-director of regenerative biology, and
Garland Chair, became the first person to derive human embryonic stem cells in
1998. In 2007, Thomson's group reported the first isolation of induced human
pluripotent stem cells contemporaneously with Shinya Yamanaka in Japan. Thomson
is also on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin, and director of the
Morgridge Institute for Research.
Thomson said of UCSB: "It's a great place; the engineering is superb. Tom Soh
has been a close collaborator for about the last six years. Every time I talk
with him he has some meaningful idea that we can use with stem cells." Soh is
center co-director of technology and engineering, and associate professor of
mechanical engineering and materials, and of biomolecular science and
engineering.
Pierre Wiltzius, the Susan and Bruce Worster Dean of Science, and professor of
physics, spoke about the importance of space at the university. "Space speaks
very loudly," said Wiltzius. "This is open lab space with few barriers, where
researchers can interact very freely. Those labs have an almost immediate impact
in two areas. The first one is recruitment of faculty and scientists. A CIRM
leadership award allowed us to recruit Dr. Pete Coffey from London, whose lab is
in the renovated space. The new space was absolutely critical."
Wiltzius said the second area of impact that the new space has is its leveraging
capability. He referred to the recent gift of $5 million from philanthropist
Bill Bowes, founder of the biotechnology giant Amgen. "What inspired him was the
caliber of our world-renowned researchers, scientists, and engineers -- and
UCSB's institutional commitment," said Wiltzius.
The grand opening featured a lecture by Mark Humayun, physician, professor of
biomedical engineering and cell and neurobiology, and associate director of
research at the Doheny Retina Institute at the University of Southern
California.
The newly renovated space includes a conference room named for Louise Clark and
John Carbon, emeritus professors and groundbreaking biologists at UCSB.
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