While Congress debates expanding federal funding for stem cell research beyond the few lines approved by the president in 2001, Maryland institutions are moving forward on studies and trials exploring the benefits of stem cell medicine.
The Maryland Stem Cell Commission will begin meeting July 27 to establish guidelines for the $15 million in-state funding approved this year for stem cell research. The commission?s 14 members include representatives from the fields of biotechnology, bioethics, patient advocacy, as well as researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University System of Maryland.
“The governor believes that science should dictate what forms of research should be funded, not politics,” said Henry Fawell, spokesman for Gov. Robert Ehrlich. “He is not opposed by any means to the concept of embryonic stem cell research or adult stem cell research.”
Stem cells have the potential to develop into many of the 210 different cell types in the body, according to the National Institutes of Health. When they divide, certain therapies can coax the “daughter” stem cells into differentiating into red blood cells, bone, brain cells or other tissues.
In 2001, President George W. Bush proposed and Congress passed a law restricting stem cell research to existing stem cell lines. Since then the federal government has funded more than $90 million in research on those lines, according to a statement from the White House Monday.
Once stem cells lines are established, they can theoretically continue to divide and reproduce indefinitely. The NIH has sent more than 700 shipments of cells to researchers, and has thousands more available upon request. More than 85 percent of all human embryonic stem cell science worldwide involves those lines now approved for federal funding.
While Maryland and California have funded stem cell research outside the federal funding limits, other states ? Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Utah ? specifically protect embryonic tissue outside the womb.
Research and testing using stem cells is still in very early stages, with the earliest studies dating to 1998.
Earlier this month, Johns Hopkins researchers announced their success in restoring some nerve function in paralyzed mice using embryonic stem cells to regrow spinal tissue.
Researchers at both Hopkins and the University of Maryland, Baltimore are working on clinical therapies using adult stem cells.
One of these therapies might someday be used to cure Stargardt?s disease, said Dr. Neil Adams of Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute. This genetic illness caused the governor?s declared running mate, Disabilities Secretary Kristen Cox, to go almost completely blind.
This article is the beginning of an irregular series of articles covering stem cell research and funding in Maryland.
