Working with a generous gift from the Gates Family Foundation, Colorado is joining the growing number of states that seek to accelerate private research on embryonic stem cells.
Gates is donating $6 million to the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, which in turn has attracted a top-flight research team to establish a research center devoted to medical stem-cell studies.
Scientists believe stem-cell research holds immense promise for treating and curing diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and diabetes. Because President Bush has halted federal funding for new stem-cell lines, private investors are picking up the slack.
The gift from the Charles C. and June S. Gates Family Fund will create the Charles C. Gates Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology Program. The program is to be led by a noted researcher from Baylor University in Houston, who plans to bring five National Institutes of Health grants with him worth about $3.8 million, along with 34 researchers. It is an impressive foundation.
Charles C. Gates Jr. died last year at 84. He was chairman and chief executive of Gates Corp. and the Gates Rubber Co., the Denver-based manufacturer of belts and hoses that employed thousands of Coloradans and was an integral part of the local economy. His father founded the company.
We commend the Gates group for its commitment to this evolving research and urge UCHSC to use the funds wisely.
Stem-cell research is among the most controversial issues in contemporary science. Current methods of extracting embryonic cells destroy the embryos, a fact that’s caused President Bush to place restrictions on federal funding on “moral grounds.” Now an article in the journal Nature says scientists are developing a method for gathering cells without destroying an embryo.
Researchers hope the new method will remove any ethical objections, but opponents of stem-cell study remained skeptical. Bush himself gave little encouragement. “Any use of human embryos for research purposes raises serious ethical concerns,” said a statement released by the White House.
Bush recently vetoed a bill that would have allowed the use of federal funding for research, saying he objected to the destruction of human embryos even though the cells in question are leftovers from fertility clinics otherwise set for disposal.
The research announced this week is a work in progress, but if scientists can produce stem cells reliably without destroying embryos, it could be a key step in overcoming the issues that have turned the stem-cell debate into a bruising political battle.
With the gift from Gates, Colorado stands to contribute to this important field of research, and we hope advanced medicine will prevail over politics.
