“Latest Stem Cells News”

After US President Barack Obama opened up to embryonic stem cell research, “we will have an America that will begin to run ,and an Italy that risks becoming a parasite,” were the fears expressed by pharmacologist Elena Cattaneo, director of the stem cell research center of the University of Milan.

Obama’s attitude, observed the Italian researcher today during a meeting in Milan, “is very positive. He has opened the door to research,” she said to Adnkronos Salute, “but with caution, without crying miracle. With the idea that perhaps tomorrow future generations will be able to benefit from the results that will be obtained.”

The hope, said Cattaneo, is that these choices “will mark an opening to research in general, not only for embryonic stem cells. He has recognized their strength.” From a practical standpoint now “in the US, much more investment will be available, studies will be more daring to accept intellectual and experimental challenges, while Italy risks remaining behind. Unless we will be able to benefit from those studies, as long as we are capable of doing so.”

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A law has been proposed again to the U.S. Senate to allow for federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. Democratic Senator Tom Harkin and Republican colleague Arlen Specter declared that the proposal allows for federal funds to finance research done using embryonic stem cells derived from leftover embryos from fertility clinics.

“It is the same bill proposed and approved by the House and the Senate in 2007, but vetoed by President George W. Bush,” was read in their statement to the press.

President Barack Obama promised to eliminate limits on federal funding imposed on research.

“For too long politics have slowed research on treatments that could save the lives of many citizens. President Barack Obama has promised to eliminate the restrictions imposed by Bush, and I hope that he does so soon. Furthermore, I hope this is protected by a federal law so it will not be affected by future changes in the administration,” added Harkin.

The proposed law is also supported by Democratic Senators Edward Kennedy and Dianne Feinstein, and Republican Orrin Hatch.

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An agreement on funding stem cell research is closer than previously thought. A change in direction on financing stem cell research by US President Barack Obama has excited the American scientific community, starting with the major universities in California, including the San Francisco State, San Jose’ University, Stanford, and Berkeley. This time it will be the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to open its wallet, ready to fund grants worth 58 million dollars to groups and researchers studying stem cells.

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Texas researchers who thought President Barack Obama’s executive order lifting the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research would finally free them to ramp up work with the cutting-edge science are facing a new obstacle: the state Legislature.
Eighteen of the state’s leading scientists signed a letter sent to the Legislature Monday objecting to a provision inserted in the Senate budget bill last week that would ban state funding from supporting research involving the destruction of human embryos.

“Such an amendment would be detrimental to Texas,” said the statement. “A ban would halt ongoing research projects and negatively impact the ability of Texas academic health institutions, both public and private, to competitively recruit and retain world-class scientists, professors and students in the biological sciences.”
The bill, which passed the Senate Finance Committee 6-5 with little discussion, is scheduled to come before the full Senate floor Wednesday. The House is working on its own budget bill.

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Arizona’s scientists and citizens are missing out on a potential lucrative source of research funds and medical benefits because of the state’s strict limits on embryonic stem-cell research, a top biotechnology official said.
James Greenwood, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Biotechnology Industry Organization, said that Arizona and other states that limit such research methods may not realize the benefits from President Barack Obama’s move earlier this month to reverse a ban on federal funding of the controversial research.

“That seems to be a no-brainer,” Greenwood said Friday of allowing research of stem cells that are harvested from embryos discarded by fertility clinics. “They are going to be destroyed one way or another.”
Arizona’s restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research come from two laws passed by the state Legislature. One prevents scientists from conducting research on cells collected from an aborted fetus. Another state law prohibits any public or government research institute from using federal, state or private money on “human cloning,” which is defined in a way that blocks the scientific process involved with embryonic stem-cell research, according to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

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After Barack Obama’s victory in the U.S. presidential elections, the economic community, in the middle of a recession and the worst financial crisis in the past decades, continues to hold its breath. The Democrat’s victory induce change and potentially more difficult times for the energy, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, and defense sectors, while the biotechnology and alternative energy sectors could be strengthened by the outcome of the elections. Obama has promised to increase investments in wind and solar energy and to spend 150 billion dollars in 10 years to hasten the development of hybrid automobiles and to increase the use of alternative energy on an “industrial scale”.

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