Montana

IN FEBRUARY 2005, the Montana State Legislature passed a bill that urged U.S. President George W Bush and the U.S. Congress to support stem cell research. The bill was titled Senate Joint Ré solution [Page 346]No. 18 and was a combined resolution of the Montana Senate and House of Representatives. The bill stressed that the contemporary lines of stem cells were contaminated and could therefore not be used therapeutically; it also cited the states of California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Wisconsin for either having already established stem cell research centers or for establishing groundwork to do so and noted that polls showed that the majority of American citizens favored stem cell research.

On July 18, 2006, the U.S. Senate convened to vote on a proposed bill (H.R.810) that would amend the Public Health Service Act and provide federal funding for research on human embryonic stem cells.

This bill was passed by the Senate but was later vetoed by President George W. Bush. In the vote, the two Montana senators voted against each other—Democrat Max Baucus was in favor of the bill and Republican Conrad Burns opposed it.

On April 20, 2007, Dr. Irving Weissman, a Montana native and premier stem cell scientist, gave a free public lecture at Montana State University (MSU). His lecture was titled “Stem Cell Research and the Future.” Weissman received his bachelor's degree from Montana State College in 1961; Montana State College became Montana State University in 1965, and Weissman was subsequently recognized with an honorary MSU degree in 1992. He also served as a high school intern at the McLaughlin Research Institute (MRI), an independent nonprofit research center located in Great Falls, Montana, and affiliated with MSU.

MRI Director Dr. George A. Carlson conducts research on neurological disorders. One facet of his lab is investigating the development and differentiation of central nervous system stem cells (CNS—SC). CNS—SC can be isolated and studied in the laboratory, outside of the brain, to determine what causes them to develop into neurons or glial cells, the support cells of the brain. Carlson studies CNS—SC in his lab with the hope of developing a future therapy for Alzheimer's disease in which critical neurons either die or lose their proper function. Potentially, CNS—SC could be programmed to differentiate into healthy neurons that could replace the effete cells and treat or cure Alzheimer's disease.

In 2004, Carlson, in collaboration with California—based company StemCells, Inc., was awarded a prestigious grant from the National Institutes of Health. The total sum awarded amounted to $465,000 and was to be put toward Carlson's research on CNS—SC.