Supports Innovative Work of Ansary Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics
NEW YORK (Feb. 14, 2008) — New York state has awarded $1 million to Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City for stem cell research and training to be carried out at its Ansary Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics. Cornell University in Ithaca received an additional $1 million. The awards were two of 25 one-year developmental grants totaling $14.5 million aimed at boosting the state's biomedical research capability and offering hope to patients with debilitating and life-threatening diseases and ailments, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and cancer.
"We are grateful to Gov. David Paterson, a leading advocate for stem cell research, and the Empire State Stem Cell Board for helping to realize the enormous potential of this powerful technology," says Dr. Antonio M. Gotto Jr., the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College.
"This grant will help us continue research initiatives on several fronts. We have made significant progress, including the discovery of how stem cells can be used to replace cells that are dead or damaged by disease," says Dr. Shahin Rafii, director of the Ansary Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics and the Arthur Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, and a noted Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator. "We also look forward to new collaborations among New York institutions made possible by these grants."
Dr. Rafii has made a number of advances in stem cell research, including the discovery of vascular stem cells in the adult bone marrow and of their ability to contribute to wound healing and tumor vascularization. In addition, his group has found that stem cells in bone marrow must move from one location to another before they can mature and begin regenerating new cells. He and his team also identified the growth factors that facilitate this movement, which could help cancer patients recovering from the severe blood- and immune-suppressing effects of chemotherapy.
In September 2007, Dr. Rafii reported breakthrough research, finding that stem cells taken from adult mouse testes can reliably be identified and converted into a range of cell and tissue types, from blood vessels and heart tissue to new brain cells. His team is now working on transferring this discovery to humans.
In other innovative research on stem cells at the Medical College, Dr. Neeta Roy, assistant professor of neuroscience, isolated neural progenitor cells from fetal spinal cord tissue. Those cells could one day be used to treat damaged nerves and brain tissue. On another front, Weill Cornell researchers are examining the potential use of bone-marrow precursor cells to mend damaged and aging hearts.
In 2005, Weill Cornell, jointly with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and The Rockefeller University, received $50 million from The Starr Foundation to create the Tri-Institutional Stem Cell Initiative. Thus far, 32 collaborative projects have been funded — a total of $14.8 million — to explore the basic biology and therapeutic potential of stem cells derived from humans or model organisms. Weill Cornell investigators and co-investigators who received Starr Foundation funding include Drs. Ching-Hwa Sung, Shahin Rafii, Stewart Anderson, David Cobrinik, John Boockvar, Lorraine Gudas, Heidi Stuhlmann, Flint Beal, Neil Harrison, Zev Rosenwaks, Scott Coonrod, Pengbo Zhou, David Lyden, Andrew Dannenberg and Richard Granstein.
New York state's press release on the grants can be found here: www.ny.gov/governor/press/0107081.html.
The Ansary Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics
The Ansary Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics, established at Weill Cornell Medical College in 2004 through the generous donation of Shahla and Hushang Ansary, brings together a premier team of scientists to focus on stem cells — primitive, unspecialized cells with a capacity to form all types of cells, tissues and organs of the body. The vision of the Ansary Center is to lead the way in 21st century medicine by employing this new field of research, with its tremendous potential to relieve human suffering. The Center fosters the multidisciplinary collaboration and creativity of Weill Cornell's researchers, as well as helps to attract the best and brightest young researchers in the field. Scientists at the Center hope to discover the wellspring of adult stem cells in the body and ways to manipulate them to treat human illness. In particular, they hope to understand the regulation of cells that give rise to such essential components as blood vessels, insulin-producing cells in the pancreas (which are damaged in some diabetics), and neurons of the brain and nervous system.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Weill Cornell, which is a principal academic affiliate of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, offers an innovative curriculum that integrates the teaching of basic and clinical sciences, problem-based learning, office-based preceptorships, and primary care and doctoring courses. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research in areas such as stem cells, genetics and gene therapy, geriatrics, neuroscience, structural biology, cardiovascular medicine, infectious disease, obesity, cancer, psychiatry and public health — and continue to delve ever deeper into the molecular basis of disease in an effort to unlock the mysteries of the human body in health and sickness. In its commitment to global health and education, the Medical College has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Cornell University is the first in the U.S. to offer a M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances — including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, the first indication of bone marrow's critical role in tumor growth, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally-conscious brain-injured patient. For more information, visit www.med.cornell.edu.
Andrew Klein
ank2017@med.cornell.edu