$62 million UC Davis center puts Sacramento at hub of stem cell research
Jan Nolta, director of the new UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures, discusses the state-of-the-art hot-cells device, left, at the new facility housed in a former State Fair exhibit hall on Stockton Boulevard. The device generates radio tracers to locate cancer stem cells before they form a tumor, Nolta said.
A hub for regenerative medical research opens today in Sacramento, putting the University of California, Davis, in the forefront of stem cell research.
UC Davis already is testing dozens of therapies in the laboratory, such as HIV treatments and organ regeneration, and is even using stem cells to repair injuries in horses.
The new $62 million UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures will consolidate those efforts, which are scattered in various locations in the region. The center will bring 200 scientists and laboratory personnel together under one roof.
Experts say the new center reflects where medical advances are heading.
"Regenerative medicine will take us into a whole new era of medicine, especially personalized medicine, because we can make a cell line for each patient," said Jan Nolta, director of the UC Davis stem cell institute.
The red brick building a few blocks south of UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento will be the first of a dozen major laboratories to open in California, funded in part by Proposition 71 of 2004. The initiative, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act, authorized $3 billion in bonds.
The new institute, housed in a former California State Fair exhibit hall on Stockton Boulevard, received $20 million from the state's agency in charge of stem cell funding – the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
Outside, the 1940s structure has arches and Corinthian columns. Inside, it sports 90,000 square feet of hallways and pure-white state-of-the-art research facilities.
Giant tanks of liquid nitrogen store stem cells, and the researchers will work at rows and rows of laboratory benches.
Powerful filters hum and change the air every minute to discourage contamination. A normal cubic foot of air has 35 million dirt particles. This lab has fewer than 10,000.
"When we start working here in a month, we're going to have to wear all sorts of coverings and masks," said Nolta, one of America's top stem cell researchers with more than 20 years of research experience.
A year ago, President Barack Obama lifted a ban on embryonic stem cell research that was imposed by former President George W. Bush.
But UC Davis now is moving away from using embryonic stem cells, Nolta said. Instead, researchers have found that skin cells have the ability to function much like embryonic stem cells.
Lab designer Gerhard Bauer said skin cells can produce a more favorable outcome.
"With skin cells we can make a personalized stem cell line, so there is no chance the patient would reject the stem cells," he said.
Bauer hopes to get the skin cell technique to clinical trials within five years.
The opening of California's first major center comes as national policy and public acceptance of stem cell research has shifted, observers said Tuesday.
Robert Klein, who conceived, wrote and led the campaign for Prop. 71, said the change has been sweeping. He cited three examples:
• First, the scientific community has identified new therapies it believes will be successful in treating a number of chronic diseases. The therapies are expected to reach human trials within 48 months.
• Second, $270 million in bond funds combined with another $880 million of donor, institutional and matching funds are financing the new stem cell centers, most attached to the UC system.
• Third, he said, there has been a "broad-based global validation" of California's leadership in the field, with more than a half dozen nations seeking collaboration and bilateral funding of some projects.
Judy Roberson, president of the Northern California chapter of the Huntington's Disease Society of America, said stem cell research is more accepted. Her husband died from Huntington's in 2003 at age 51.
"Before, people used to think of stem cells only as embryonic," she said. "Now there are a lot more types of cells. And people are starting to listen."
Acceptance grew, too, with the personal stories of well-known public figures who sought the benefits that stem cell research could bring.
The late Christopher Reeve, who became a quadriplegic after he was thrown from a horse, was perhaps the best known advocate for research to treat spinal injuries.
Actor Michael J. Fox has promoted stem cell research to aid those with Parkinson's disease, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system.
Lisa Hughes, president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research in Washington, D.C., said both have been powerful persuaders of public opinion.
She said Obama's decision to reverse Bush's policy on embryonic stem cell research was pivotal.
"Just lifting that policy alone has breathed new life into the research community, and there is a sense they can move forward now, supported by the federal government," Hughes said.
California isn't the only state paying for stem cell research. New York is spending $600 million, said John Robson of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
The California institute reports that it has funded more than 425 discoveries being published in scientific journals, each discovery moving closer to new therapies.
At UC Davis, dozens of therapies are being tested. Nolta, the stem cell institute director, described the process of using bone marrow cells for damaged hearts with a bit of awe.
"We put the stem cells into the bloodstream through an IV bag, and the stem cells find the injured area and repair it," she said. "It's really amazing."
Don Cross climbs up to secure a banner welcoming visitors to today's grand opening of the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures in Sacramento. The facility boasts 90,000 square feet of hallways and state-of-the-art research facilities.
Jose Nunez, of Classic Party Rentals, aligns one of 400 chairs being set up for today's grand opening of the $62 million laboratory for stem cell research, funded in part by 2004's Proposition 71.