Jan. 16 (Bloomberg)—Advanced Cell Technology Inc., a biotechnology company researching treatments made from human embryonic stem cells, received a U.S. small-business grant to develop colored tags to track the cells’ development.
Advanced Cell, based in Alameda, California, got $204,000 to develop the molecular tags along with the Burnham Institute of Medical Research, Advanced Cell said in a statement today. Successful completion of the project could lead to additional grant renewals of as much as $1.5 million, Advanced Cell Chief Executive Officer William Caldwell said.
Advanced Cell and the Burnham Institute, of La Jolla, California, both work with human embryonic stem-cell lines created since 2001 that are barred from U.S. government funding. The tag project will use lines approved by President George W. Bush in a Burnham laboratory outfitted to make sure government funding isn’t used for unapproved lines, Caldwell said.
“The important thing is that the government is continuing to fund embryonic stem-cell research at institutions like the Burnham and companies like ours,’’ Caldwell said in a telephone interview yesterday. “We’re very excited that we’ve achieved this.”
The Bush administration has come under fire from both Democrats and Republicans for its restrictions on human embryonic stem-cell research, which is hoped to offer cures for diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and other incurable disorders. The House of Representatives voted last week to overturn Bush’s ban on government funding for research on human embryonic stem- cell lines created since 2001.
Each stem cell taken from an embryo is capable of maturing into any organ in the body as well as regrowing the entire organism. Researchers need better ways of identifying the different cell types embryonic cells make, and tracking them as they move through tissues, Caldwell said.
“Clearly, we will be providing a useful tool for other researchers to utilize,” he said.
The Burnham Institute, like many other U.S. stem cell laboratories, has taken steps to make sure that federal funding isn’t used to perform research on unapproved stem cells, said researcher Jeanne Loring. She has put stickers on all equipment paid for with government funding to make sure workers don’t use them for research on unapproved stem-cell lines, she said.
The grant came from the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research, a division of the National Institutes of Health, through the Small Business Innovation Research program.
To contact the reporter on this story: John Lauerman in Boston at jlauerman@bloomberg.net.
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John Lauerman
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