On year anniversary, Mass. stem cell law paying dividends

BOSTON --In laboratories across the state, researchers are using embryonic stem cells to chip away at a rogues gallery of devastating diseases, from cancer to AIDS, in the hopes of discovering new treatments or cures.

That work -- largely out of the limelight, and now largely unimpeded -- may be the most significant achievement from the state's decision a year ago to streamline human embryonic stem cell research.

There are other more tangible signals that the research is gaining an ever stronger toehold in Massachusetts.

In February, Harvard University unveiled plans for a 500,000-square-foot complex in part for stem cell research. Top young researchers are setting up shop in Massachusetts. On Beacon Hill, talk is turning to what new resources the state should spend to support the research.

And at least 16 companies, hospitals and universities are now certified to conduct human embryonic stem cell research under the law.

"The talent pool that's being assembled in Massachusetts is really extensive," said Dr. Leonard Zon, a stem cell researcher at Children's Hospital and co-chair of the state's Biomedical Research Advisory Council.

One of those young researchers is Chad Cowan. Earlier this year Cowan faced an unusual career dilemma.

After years of honing his skills in Massachusetts, the 34-year-old stem cell researcher received an offer from a privately endowed research center in Kansas City.

There was only one hitch. In Missouri, Cowan said, he feared his type of research could land him behind bars. In contrast, he felt Massachusetts had put out a welcome mat.

"That sort of environment attracted me to Massachusetts, knowing there was a clear focus on this research," said Cowan, who decided to remain in Massachusetts to research ways to treat diseases like muscular dystrophy.

At least half a dozen states -- including Connecticut, California and New Jersey -- have laws encouraging human embryonic stem cell research.

Richard Hynes, a professor of cancer research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, co-chaired a committee set up by the National Academy of Sciences to establish national guidelines for embryonic stem cell research.

Hynes said laws like Massachusetts' are important because they set ground rules. That's especially important because of the lack of federal laws.

"The Massachusetts law makes it clear to people in this state what they can do," he said.

A key section of the law removes the requirement that scientists who want to engage in embryonic stem cell must seek the approval of the local district attorney first. The new law also bans reproductive cloning -- the kind of cloning that results in a baby.

The new law, enacted by the Legislature despite a veto by Gov. Mitt Romney, has angered some researchers.

Robert Lanza, vice president of research for Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, said the law is hindering the company by barring them from sufficiently compensating women who donate eggs, making it difficult for the company to obtain the eggs vital to stem cell research.

The goal was to prevent women from being exploited, but Lanza said other companies are allowed to pay women for their eggs for in vitro fertilization, or IVF.

"It just seems odd that a person donating eggs for IVF gets compensated for $7,000 or $10,000 while another person doing the same thing for research to help people's lives gets nothing," he said.

At the Statehouse, the Senate is backing a new plan to spend tens of millions to spur the life sciences in Massachusetts, including stem cell research. Another bill would create new tax incentives for donations to biomedical research.

Rep. Daniel Bosley, D-North Adams, said the new law has people across the country keeping a close eye on Massachusetts.

"There's a buzz about Massachusetts," Bosley said. "When you create that kind of a buzz, people are naturally attracted."

Part of that buzz is focused on the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the nexus for much of the research in Massachusetts.

The institute was launched in April 2004, as a "virtual" collaboration between researchers at the university's various schools and teaching hospitals. Now Harvard is planning to give the institute its own bricks-and-mortar home.

Researchers at the institute already point to some successes, from doubling the number of human embryonic stem cell lines available to researchers to picking a handful of diseases -- like cancer, diabetes and blood diseases like AIDS -- to focus on at first.

The potential benefits are enormous. Researchers estimate that about a third of the population of the United States -- about 100 million people -- suffer from diseases that could be treated by stem cell-based therapies.

Not everyone sees progress in the state's efforts to foster stem cell research.

Marie Sturgis, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, compares the new law to Aldous Huxley's dystopian vision of human farming in his novel "Brave New World" and said it amounts to a "state grab on human life at its earliest stages."

"It puts human life in the hands of science and that will always be problem," she said. "There is no limit to where science can go with this."

Particularly worrisome for Sturgis is language in the law barring research on embryos older than 14 days, which Sturgis interprets as an attempt to redefine when life begins.

At the heart of the stem cell debate is a procedure known both as somatic cell nuclear transfer or therapeutic cloning.

The basic science involves taking an egg from a woman, removing the 23 chromosomes that would normally match up with 23 chromosomes from a sperm, and replacing them with a full 46 chromosome nucleus from any cell of an adult, essentially creating a single cell clone.

The egg is then induced to begin reproducing until there is a ball of a few hundred stem cells that have the ability to transform themselves into any type of cell in the body. The goal is to use those cells to create cures or treatments for disease.

Some parts of the law haven't gotten off the ground, including the creation of a public bank at the University of Massachusetts Medical School at Worcester for collecting and storing umbilical cord blood and placental tissue donated by maternity patients.

Despite his enthusiasm, Zon tries to temper public expectations about the research.

He said the short term goal -- over the next five years or so -- is to gain a greater understanding of human development and use tissue created through human embryonic stem cell research to experiment with potential treatments for diseases.

The longer term goal -- over the next 10 years -- is to create new cells to actually replace defective parts.

"We are just at the beginning," he said.