Professor Studies Stem Cells

Within the next few weeks, thermos bottles containing about a hundred donated human embryos—each composed of only a few cells—will arrive at the renovated labs of Douglas A. Melton, Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences.

Packed in vials and frozen in liquid nitrogen, the embryos will be hand-delivered from Boston IVF, a local fertility clinic, according to the facility’s scientific and laboratory director R. Douglas Powers.

Since President George W. Bush restricted embryonic stem cell research last August, approximately 30 couples treated by local fertility clinic Boston IVF chose to donate their leftover embryos to Melton’s lab. Many did so in the hopes of harnessing the enormous potential of the embryonic stem cells—widely recognized for their ability to develop into any other type of cell—to find a treatment for type 1 diabetes, according to Powers.

The one-of-a-kind arrangement between Boston IVF and Harvard will make it possible for Melton to develop new embryonic stem cell lines in the course of his laboratory project.

Once at the lab, the embryos will be thawed and destroyed in the process of isolating stem cells—a controversial action Bush had aimed to prevent by limiting federal funding to research with existing embryonic stem cell lines.

Privately funded research is not restricted, and since Melton only receives private funds he is free to go forward with his new project.

The prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute—a private, nonprofit medical research organization located in Maryland—is footing Melton’s research bill for this particular study.

But because of the highly political nature of stem cell research—and specifically because of new funding restrictions—Melton says he had to “mark off, in a physical and administrative way” the lab that he’ll be using in the coming months.

“Political” Science

Harvard’s commitment to stem cell research began three years ago, when Melton was the first from the molecular and cellular biology department to bring stem cells to the attention of university officials—including Jane Corlette, acting vice president for Government, Community and Public Affairs.

Around the same time, Melton and Powers—who met by chance at a social event—developed a professional relationship and began laying the groundwork for the unique Harvard-Boston IVF agreement to donate leftover embryos to Melton’s research, according to Boston IVF spokesperson Terry Davidson.

During the 2000 presidential campaign, scientists and university officials noted Bush’s anti-stem cell research stance, Corlette says.

After Bush won the election, Harvard’s general interest in stem cells turned into

focused political activity.

Along with government relations officials and scientists from a handful of concerned institutions and advocacy groups, Corlette helped found the Coalition

for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) to change Bush’s position on stem cell research. She still serves as liaison to the organization.

Harvard was the “only university voice” among the founding members, which included “physicians, patient groups, and scientific societies,” Corlette says.

Harvard also made the largest financial contribution out of all the founding members—$10,000—according to Corlette.

CAMR launched its campaign with a simple lobbying tool—conference calls put in to Congress staff.

Although the effort began as a grass roots attempt to educate policy makers, the national media quickly made stem cell research into a nationally debated topic.

“[It] engaged people even in small towns,” says Tom Etten, CAMR member and director of federal relations at Johns Hopkins University. “President Bush

then felt it was necessary to study the issue. He threw himself into it.”

CAMR’s campaign forced Bush to grapple with the stem cell issue in his first prime time address, according to CAMR president Michael Manganiello, who also serves as senior vice president at the Christopher Reeve Foundation.

The strategy of “classic, face-to-face lobbying” with Congress and their

staff was “extremely successful,” according to Corlette.

But CAMR’s behind-the-scenes efforts in D.C. were hardly the catalyst for the media blitz that ensued.

“CAMR had a fair amount to do with the media attention [last summer], but

we’re not responsible for it,” Corlette says. “We were lucky that

reporters found the stem cell debate so interesting.”

Part Hope, Part Hype

Above the fray in Washington, Harvard scientists have slowly pursued embryonic stem cell research in looking for treatments for type 1 diabetes—commonly known as juvenile diabetes— and Parkinson’s disease.

Melton has used human embryonic stem cells for years, importing cells from scientific collaborators in Israel.

But with donated embryos from Boston IVF, Melton hopes to develop new human embryonic stem cell lines.

“The specific goal is to derive generally useful lines,” Melton says, adding that he would share the cell lines with Harvard researches in other fields.

“We’re not setting this up to be a supplier [of stem cell lines to other researchers],” he says, “It might be a consequence, but it’s not a goal.”

He says his ultimate goal is to use these embryonic stem cell lines in his own research to explore possible treatments for juvenile diabetes.

Currently, juvenile diabetes patients must take daily injections of insulin,

a hormone needed for the body to

break down sugars to stay alive.

Melton will attempt to use embryonic stem cells to develop pancreatic cells that replenish insulin levels—but he says he expects only five percent of the donated embryos to yield viable embryonic stem cell lines.

The process of extracting the stem cells will take at least three months, according to Melton.

“I’d be disappointed if it took more than a year,” he says.

Parkinson’s disease researchers also see embryonic stem cells as a potential ally in their fight against the fatal and currently incurable neurological disorder.

Last month, researchers at Harvard’s McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. were able to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in rats by coaxing implanted embryonic stem cells to become neurons that produce dopamine, an essential brain chemical.

The findings, published in the Jan. 8 issue of the Proceedings of the

National Academy of Science, are a “very promising start” in developing a

therapeutic application for embryonic stem cells to treat human diseases,

according to stem cell expert Dr. Arlene Chiu from the National Institute

of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (NINDS).

However, Chiu and other researchers say they agree that practical therapeutic

applications for embryonic stem cells are, at best, years down the road.

Chiu says the type of stem cell used in the Harvard Parkinson’s study, “the youngest ones with the greatest potential,” come with a troubling tendency to form tumors. In fact, five out of the 19 rats tested developed tumors, Chiu notes.

The average tumor size in the rats’ brains was comparable to one the size

of a walnut in a human brain, which is 30 to 40 times larger, according to lead researcher Ole Isacson.

These kinds of glitches, which Isacson says he “anticipated,” are not

surprising given that cell transplantation therapy research is still in

its nascent stage.

WebMD, a popular consumer health website, called the study a “giant step toward Parkinson’s cure” in an optimistic article posted last month.

Isacson’s study was also widely publicized in mainstream press, but observers were quick to qualify its successes with shortcomings.

Some scientists point out a larger trend of misinterpreting the

significance of scientific achievements and over-inflating the potential

of the cells.

“The public is laboring under the misapprehension that if we made human

embryonic stem cells legal then we could put them into patients next week

and cure them,” says Dr. Constance W. Atwell, a NINDS research director. “That’s just not the case.”

Part of finding a cure to diseases such as Parkinson’s lies in understanding underlying cell mechanisms, according Ronald D. G. McKay, a stem cell researcher at the National Institute of Health.

“The game here is not simply to inject embryonic stem cells into Parkinson’s

patients and cure them,” says McKay. The goal is “getting to know the

cell, its origin, how it lives, and how it dies.”