Pennsylvania

PENNSYLVANIA IS NUMBER two in the United States in state financial support of stem cell research. Pennsylvania follows only the State of California in state support. In the year 2001, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania budgeted $2.3 million to support in—state stem cell research. The majority of that money, totaling $2 million, came from Pennsylvania's settlements with tobacco companies.

In early 2005, Pennsylvania Representatives and state lawmakers proposed an increase in state funding of stem cell research by developing a fund especially for this cause. Additionally, the proposal suggested a tristate collaboration between Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware to foster stem cell research.

In April 2005, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and the University of Nevada School of Medicine (UNSM) proposed to establish a joint academic medical center in downtown Las Vegas at Union Park. Faculty would come from both universities; however, while the UNSM would profit both financially and intellectually from the new medical center, most of the financial backing would come from UPMC. The purpose of the new medical center would be to incorporate stem cell biology with organ transplants.

The UPMC also collaborates with a transplant center in Palermo, Italy. The Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and Advanced Specialized Therapies is run by the government of Italy but managed by the UPMC.

Other leading Pennsylvania institutions in the field of stem cell research and regenerative medicine include the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the UPMC, the University of Pennsylvania, and Thomas Jefferson University.

At the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, numerous studies involve stem cell biology and their uses. For example, researchers are attempting to use a woman's own adipose, or fat cell, stem cells to create a breast implant to replace her breast if removed due to cancer. This research is conducted at the Adipose Stem Cell Center in the School of Medicine's Division of Plastic Surgery. Also at the McGowan Institute is Dr. Eric Lagasse, Pharm.D., Ph.D., conducting research into liver stem cells and the reparation of severe liver damage from liver disease.

Under the direction of Dr. Amit Patel, M.D., M.S., and in collaboration with other institutes, scientists at the UPMC showed that heart damage due to congestive heart failure could be turned around with adult stem cell therapy. The patient showed novel angiogenesis, or the growth of new vasculature. Another important study out of the McGowan Institute, led by Dr. Johnny Huard, Ph.D., showed that adult stem cells can divide and regenerate at a level comparable to embryonic stem cells. The results of both of these studies were announced in 2005.

At the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, scientists study [Page 425]stem cells extensively. The university also boasts a new Institute for Regenerative Medicine, established in 2007. The institute, directed by Drs. Jonathan Epstein, M.D., and Ralph Brinster, V.M.D., Ph.D., is dedicated to studying basic cell biology of stem cells and translating these insights into therapeutic technologies. Additionally, the institute aims to foster public discussion and debate about stem cells and the ethical issues surrounding them.

Dr. Epstein's laboratory examines neural crest cells and their development into multiple cell types including nervous tissue and bones, as a model for stem cell differentiation. Dr. Brinster's lab studies the spermatogonial stem cell and the subsequent development of sperm cells. He hopes to harness this process enough to be able to introduce genetic changes into progeny by altering the male sperm line. A far—reaching goal of this research could be to assist men harboring a genetic mutation in having healthy children. Additionally, the technique could be used to introduce paternally delivered mutations into research animals that would allow further studies into the function of the mutated gene.

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