Six years after the UConn 2000 endowment, funds set aside for building projects to benefit the University of Connecticut, proposals for new facilities are still being carried out. The UConn Health Center (UHC) located in Farmington is currently seeking funds to purchase a building located on Farmington Avenue.
One of the main purposes of the new building, if acquired, will be to house the current human stem cell research program headed by Dr. Ren-He Xu.
"Many, many stem cell projects are currently being conducted at UConn," said David Goldhamer, associate professor of molecular and cell biology, in an e-mail concerning resent research. "Specifically in human embryonic stem cell (HESC) projects, research currently being conducted is much more limited."
According to Theodore Rasmussen, an assistant professor of animal science, there are two classifications of stem cell research being conducted at UConn. The first kind of research deals with animal derived embryonic stem cells. This research is conducted at facilities on the Storrs campus.
The second kind of research deals with human derived stem cells. This type of research is currently only conducted in Farmington at the UHC.
"My lab is interested in differentiation, which is how stem cells can be made into useful cell types," Rasmussen said.
A new facility is desired by researchers in Farmington because they want to work with non-federally approved lines of stem cells. Using these lines of cells are not illegal; however, a facility that does this type of research cannot be funded federally in any way.
"I am personally interested in research involving these human lines that can be used to fight certain diseases," Rasmussen said.
According to Dr. Marc Lalande, head of the department of genetics and developmental biology in Farmington, President Bush passed legislation on Aug. 9, 2001 stating that any human stem cell line derived after that date could not be researched with the assistance of federal funding. At the time of the legislation, 22 lines of human stem cells were being researched, of which only a few are useful to researchers today, Lalande said. Since that time, 50 more human stem cell lines have been isolated, which "are much better for our work," according to Lalande.
The new research facility at UHC would be entirely funded by UConn 2000. The building and equipment used to carry out research projects would belong to the university and not come from federal funds.
According to Rasmussen, in addition to the university funding, the state of Connecticut has recently set aside $100 million to support any kind of research within the state. An emphasis was placed on using a portion of those funds for human embryonic stem cell
research, Rasmussen said.
"It will hopefully be expanded through grants funded by the state of Connecticut," Lalande said of the possible new facility and research program associated with it.
Dr. Xu was part of the first group of scientists to isolate human stem cells in Wisconsin. Xu's core lab is currently housed on the second floor at the UHC. His team of five researchers cultures human stem cells from lines they have acquired from Harvard,
Singapore and Wisconsin.
In the future, the team hopes to not only bank and culture embryonic cells, but to also provide cells and training to other institutions.
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