State stem cell agency awards $4.3 million to three Stanford researchers
BY KRISTA CONGER
Steven Artandi
Three Stanford University School of Medicine researchers were awarded about $4.3 million today from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine as part of the organization’s second round of basic biology grants. In addition, two other stem cell researchers with Stanford ties also received funding.
The institute voted to fund 16 of the multiyear grants, for a total of $28 million, which are intended to support investigation into human stem cell biology, cellular plasticity and cellular differentiation.
“Understanding the fundamental questions in stem cell biology and the development of innovative approaches to their differentiation is essential for ... bringing new stem cell therapies to patients,” said Alan Trounson, CIRM’s president.
The grants build on 12 previous awards made in 2009. A third round of basic biology grants is expected in 2011.
Aaron Hsueh
Steven Artandi, MD, PhD, associate professor of hematology, will receive $1.43 million to investigate how induced pluripotent stem cells, also called iPS cells, choose between self-renewing or entering a resting state called senescence. He plans to study iPS cells created from the skin of people with mutations in an enzyme called telomerase, which is important in self-renewal. Understanding how to prevent inappropriate senescence is a vital step toward using these cells as therapies.
Aaron Hsueh, PhD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, will receive about $1.43 million over three years to study how to induce the maturation of human eggs from ovarian tissue preserved from cancer patients. He hopes to use the mature human oocytes to create patient-specific stem cell lines through a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer. The patient-specific cell lines could then be used to study a variety of degenerative diseases.
Garry Nolan
Garry Nolan, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology, will receive about $1.45 million for his study into the cellular pathways that govern the derivation and function of iPS cells. Specifically, he will focus on developing techniques to identify and explore key protein phosphorylation events that occur when specialized adult cells are converted into iPS cells in the laboratory. Understanding these events will improve the speed and efficiency of the derivation of these cells, and will help to make them safer for clinical use.
A fourth Stanford researcher also received funds from CIRM, but the funds will flow through a different organization. Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD, associate professor of neurology and neurological sciences, will receive about $1.52 million to study molecular and environmental factors in the adult brain that support the differentiation of neural stem cells. Understanding how old brains may generate new neurons may help researchers devise ways to combat age-related neurodegenerative diseases. Wyss-Coray has a joint appointment with the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, and will conduct the research as part of the Palo Alto Institute for Research and Education.
Tony Wyss-Coray
Finally, in addition to the awards to Stanford faculty, the 29-member governing board of the stem cell institute awarded nearly $6 million to pharmacologist and stem cell expert Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD, to move his research from Duke University to the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. Wechsler-Reya is a former postdoctoral scholar at Stanford. The money is the first of several research leadership awards, which are intended to recruit leading early- to mid-career stem cell scientists to California institutions. Applications will be accepted quarterly for these awards over a period of two years until all funds have been allotted.
To date, Stanford has received $167.8 million in funds from the state institute, more than any other institution.
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