Patrick Increases Stem Cell Funds

Governor Deval L. Patrick ’78 announced a $1.25 billion funding initiative earlier this week for life science research in Massachusetts that will focus in part on embryonic stem cells.

Harvard’s existing research programs may position it well to receive some of the newly available funding, according to Kevin Casey, the University’s senior director of federal and state relations.

“Recognizing Harvard University and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute are conducting much of the relevant research in those areas, it would be anticipated that much of the funding would be available to Harvard-related folks,” he said.

The $1.25 billion will consist of $1 billion of state money and $250 million in matching funds from private donors and will be disbursed over a 10-year period.

A sizable chunk of the money will be reserved for public institutions. The proposed multi-million dollar Massachusetts Stem Cell Bank and a separate center for RNA research will both be located at the University of Massachusetts, according to plans released by the Governor’s office.

The stem cell bank will be the world’s largest repository for stem cell lines, the plans said.

“That’s what you would expect,” said Casey of the funding set aside for public institutions. “That is the state’s traditional responsibility.”

Though Harvard officials do not yet know how the rest of the money will be allocated, David T. Scadden, a scientific director at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI), said he hoped his organization would play a major role in projects financed by the initiative.

“We’re certainly hoping to participate in the creation of the stem cell bank,” Scadden said. “And we’re hoping [the funding] will help provide some support for junior faculty...and encourage them to make Massachusetts their home.”

A portion of the $1.25 billion will also go to create “Life Science Innovation Centers” aimed at speeding the transfer of technology from labs to the market.

Harvard officials did not know where those centers would be located, but Brock Reeve, HSCI’s executive director, said Patrick’s commitment to geographic diversity would likely mean that planners would have to reconcile this aim with the existing distribution of biomedical research—now heavily concentrated in the Greater Boston area.

“I think we’ll find some geographical diversity there, but on the other hand we’ve already invested in certain facilities,” Reeve said. “It’ll be a balancing act, but they’re not necessarily at odds.”

The governor’s office could not be reached for comment on how it plans to allocate funds beyond what was outlined in public statements.

Patrick’s decision comes in the wake of funding announcements by other states for stem cell research, some of which is ineligible for federal funding. New Jersey approved $270 million, and California devoted $3 billion to research.New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has proposed spending $1 billion in public money for stem cell research.

In addition to the centers at the University of Massachusetts and funding for embryonic stem cell research, the plans contain funds to make up the difference in the declining value of federal research grants.

Staff writer Clifford M. Marks can be reached at cmarks@fas.harvard.edu.