Yale Bulletin and Calendar

December 15, 2006|Volume 35, Number 13|Four-Week Issue

State gives Yale $7.8 million
for stem cell research

Yale School of Medicine is receiving $7.8 million from the state of Connecticut under the first installment of grants from the Stem Cell Research Fund.

Between now and 2015, the state of Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee has committed to allocate $100 million to encourage stem cell research in Connecticut.

"I am delighted to see this program move forward," said School of Medicine Dean Dr. Robert Alpern. "Yale is very appreciative that the state of Connecticut has made this commitment to stem cell research and has now awarded this large amount to support the research of our faculty."

Haifan Lin, director of Yale's stem cell program, added, "We anticipate that the $7.8 million awarded by the state to us at Yale will have a transforming effect on our human embryonic stem cell research."

Lin noted that the funding will allow Yale to build a human embryonic stem cell core and a dedicated genomic core to serve stem cell researchers on campus and across the state. "In addition," he said, "the award will enable us to jump start several key human embryonic stem cell projects. We look forward to working with researchers at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Wesleyan and other institutions, to advance stem cell research in the state of Connecticut."

Governor Jodi Rell, who signed the new initiative into law in 2005, said the first allotment of funds positions Connecticut as a leader in the area of stem cell research.

"We have proven ourselves able to provide a place where such research can be done safely, ethically and effectively in addition to providing investment dollars for the growth of the bioscience industry in Connecticut, and making an investment intended to improve the health of generations to come," Rell said.

The Yale proposals that were funded include nearly $4 million for an integrated study of neural differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. A team of four investigators will oversee it: Michael Snyder, principal investigator and professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology; Lin, stem cell program director and professor of cell biology; Dr. Sherman Weissman, professor of genetics; and Weimin Zhong, associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology.

They will also establish a state-of-the-art genomics and bioinformatics core as a part of the Yale stem cell program's core facilities to serve the researchers at Yale and in the state of Connecticut.

Lin is also the principal investigator on a $2.5 million grant to establish a human embryonic stem cell core facility in the Amistad Building, which will open next spring. This core facility, proposed with Dr. Diane Krause, associate director of the stem cell program and associate professor of laboratory medicine and pathology, will serve as a central repository to expand, validate, maintain and distribute both federally approved and independently developed human embryonic stem cell lines to scientists at Yale and throughout Connecticut. In addition, it will train researchers at Yale and statewide in the use of human embryonic stem cells for their research.

Krause also received an $860,000 grant to study the role of the leukemia gene MKL in developmental hematopoiesis using human embryonic stem cells. Her laboratory will study MKL in normal blood development and in the emergence of leukemia. A better understanding of how this leukemia emerges during fetal development will allow for the identification of new targets for anti-leukemia drugs.

Yingqun Joan Huang, assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, is the principal investigator on a $200,000 grant to study the function of the Fragile X mental retardation protein in early human neural development. Fragile X syndrome is the leading heritable form of mental retardation and is associated with a variety of learning disorders and behavioral problems. The disorder is caused by the loss of the gene for fragile X mental retardation protein, FMRP.

Huang said his laboratory will study the molecular mechanism of the disease in early stage neurons derived from human embryonic stem cells. "The ability of human embryonic stem cells to differentiate into neural stem cells and neurons in tissue culture dishes offers an excellent model system for studying how FMRP may influence its target gene function at the very earliest stages of brain development," he noted.

Erik Shapiro, assistant professor of diagnostic radiology, is principal investigator on a $200,000 grant to develop magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for tracking stem cell migration. The procedures pioneered by Shapiro's laboratory permit the detection of single cells in living subjects.

"The specific goal of the proposed research is to use MRI to assess our abilities to steer endogenous neural stem cells to areas of disease or injury," Shapiro said. "The benefits of using MRI for monitoring stem cell migration is that MRI affords non-invasive, high resolution, serial monitoring of subjects."

Eleni Markakis, assistant professor of psychiatry, received a grant of $184,407 to study directed isolation of neuronal stem cells from human embryonic stem cell lines.

"One of the most valuable things about these cells is their heterogeneity, but it makes them incredibly difficult to work with," she said. "Usually, cells of one known variety are cultured alone or co-cultured with one other known cell type. In the case of human embryonic stem cells, cells of different embryonic germ layers capable of generating almost every cell type in a human body are in various states of differentiation in the same culture dish."

Markakis hopes to better characterize the cellular components of human embryonic stem cell cultures and simplify the isolation of neuronal stem cells in particular, making them easier to study.

"If we have any hope of using human embryonic stem cells to treat multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease, and there are world famous centers here at Yale that work on both diseases, we need to be able to pull out the cells we want from that mix," she said. "It's truly basic cell biology, but it will hopefully bring valuable information to the field."

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Gift from alumni to expand Grand Strategy Program

State gives Yale $7.8 million for stem cell research

Environmental activist named Marshall Scholar

Yale scientist helps keep museum's trains chugging along

Project will consider how to develop 'pastoral imagination'

Human Resources department to pilot STARS . . .

Yale researchers share expertise with Ethiopian health care . . .

Global Citizenship Initiative awarded Hewlett Foundation grant

Child psychiatrist wins award for contributions to education

Alan Kazdin named president of American Psychological Association

Thomas Steitz honored by Japanese university

The Duke's Men make holiday appearances

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE NEWS

HIV testing should be a routine part of health exams, say scientists

Discovery has implications for treatment of herpes

Study: Cancer gene mutations more common than expected

Aortic aneurysms often run in families, say researchers

Study: Decreased genital sensation likely in competitive women cyclists

Retinopathy of prematurity may be due to genetic factors

Research shows benefits of exercise programs for elderly

Asian Indian men found to be more susceptible to diabetes

Yale School of Medicine joins national consortium