Stem Cell Institute Aids Cooperation

One Harvard lab takes stem cells from human embryos and substitutes them for brain cells that have died because of Parkinson’s disease. Another tries to make stem cells from skin cells.

Now, the two labs are collaborating on research that might allow a person’s limitless supply of skin cells to be transformed into stem cells that can be used for diagnosing and treating Parkinson’s.

But such cooperation may well not have happened a decade ago; despite Harvard’s significant scientific capital, stem cell researchers often had difficulty collaborating with their colleagues—even when they were only a few T stops away.

Seeking to address this lack of collaboration, the University created the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in 2004 as an attempt to bridge the gap between basic and applied life sciences, as well as to address the social, ethical, and religious issues raised by stem cell research.

For a University whose organizational philosophy is often described as “every tub on its own bottom”—referring to the policy that holds each school responsible for raising and managing the bulk of their own resources—the institute represents a unusual attempt to concentrate faculty and resources.

Nearly three years after the founding of HSCI, a report on the status of science and engineering at the University found that, in general, faculty members find it “difficult to conduct interdisciplinary research,” especially across school and departmental boundaries. The report concluded that the University must foster interdisciplinary research to maintain

Harvard’s “leading position” in the sciences and engineering.

Although the report laments the broader lack of collaboration, it repeatedly praises growing cooperation in the field of stem cell research, specifically citing the institute. Researchers and administrators agree that it has successfully facilitated collaboration, bringing significant scientific advances.

But political restrictions mean that since its founding, the center has struggled to find sufficient funding, and relies almost exclusively on private donations.

Even in the face of political obstacles, Harvard has strengthened its commitment to stem cell research. This spring the University announced its first cross-school department, which will focus in part on stem-cell biology. And when a new 500,000-square foot science complex opens across the River in Allston, the Stem Cell Institute will finally have a permanent base of operations.

CONNECTIVE TISSUE

The insitute spans nine of the University’s 10 schools and 11 of its affiliated hospitals and research institutions. According to the institute’s annual report for 2006, the collaboration includes more than 750 scientists in 119 laboratories, as well as non-scientists from across the University.

Prior to the creation of the institute, faculty members were already doing stem cell research, but the institute created an organizational umbrella in order to cut across institutional lines, says Executive Director Brock C. Reeve.

“You need multiple skill sets. For cardiac stem cell research, you need stem cell biologists, developmental biologists, cardiologists, and engineers,” Reeve says. “You need multiple discipline sets in order to ultimately be able to cure certain diseases.”

To encourage this collaboration, the institute set up “core facilities” to provide technology and equipment that is “beyond the means of most individual labs,” according to its Web site.

“The Harvard Stem Cell Institute has energized our work because it provided an immediate exchange of information,” including “technical, procedural help with resources such as stem cell cultures and interactions with experts in fields where we were not experts,” says Ole S. Isacson, a professor of neurology at the Medical School. Isacson’s lab, which is affiliated with the institute, uses embryonic stem cells as substitute neurons for cells that have died in brains afflicted with Parkinson’s.

In addition to providing physical resources to scientists, the institute also offers a forum for discussion. The institute hosts bi-monthly inter-lab meetings where faculty can present their recent work, according to Reeve.

“It is a great chance to receive feedback from some of the best stem cell scientists in the world,” says Jaime Imitola, an instructor of neurology at the Medical School.

But blazing the trail for such alliances is no easy task. Reeve says that the extent of the interdisciplinary collaboration that goes on through the institute is unique not only to Harvard, but also with regard to other institutions across the country.

Reeve added that although researchers at Harvard had cooperated before, there were inherent difficulties in coordinating work between multiple institutions, all of which have their own organizational, legal, and reporting structures.

“People had collaborated before, but having that happen at a larger scale and faster way—it has taken time to get,” Reeve says.

And with this new model, researchers within HSCI have been successful. Albert Edge, an associate professor of otology and laryngology at the Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, says that his lab has been able to show in animal models that the auditory nerve can be replaced with embryonic stem cells—provided by HSCI—in order to correct deafness and hearing loss.

LIMITING REAGENTS

But one of the biggest hurdles the institute faces is a lack of money, as many politicians oppose the use of public funds for stem cell research because of moral objections.

The institute currently relies solely on private funds because of the Bush administration’s decision that federal dollars could not go toward research done with stem cell lines created after August 2001.

Since its founding, HSCI has raised $60 million in private donations, including donations from individuals and disease foundations dedicated to specific ailments, according to Reeve.

Scadden says the lack of funding due to the federal restrictions has been slightly alleviated by the HSCI’s centralization of resources.

According to Scadden, the success of the institute in raising money from private sources provides the leverage scientists need to convince additional donors to invest in their projects.

At present, the institute spends between $15 to $20 million each year, Reeve says. Expansion of research efforts would require a budget increase.

“We have enough funding for the next couple years of operations,” he says. “We need funding to carry us beyond that.”

The lack of federal funding is a significant constraint as most scientific research funding comes from federal sources, according to Douglas A. Melton, HSCI’s other scientific director.

“We have many more good ideas than funds...we don’t have sufficient funds to push and act on the very good ideas that have come about,” he says.

But while the institute itself does not receive federal dollars, HSCI’s faculty members are eligible to receive government money for their specific labs if the research being funded does not conflict with federal policy.

Accordingly, equipment, personnel, and projects funded by federal money must be kept painstakingly separate from that which HSCI funds. Colored stickers are often used to designate which objects in a lab researchers can use for which projects, Reeve says.

In addition to the limits in federal funding, the institute also receives no state funding, as former Gov. W. Mitt Romney also imposed restrictions on stem cell research.

But last month, current Gov. Deval L. Patrick ’78 announced a $1.25 billion expansion of life sciences research funding, including the study of stem cells.

Though the majority of that money will be reserved for public universities, scientists at Harvard may have the opportunity to apply for certain fellowships and to participate in cost-sharing on some large pieces of scientific equipment, according to Kevin Casey, Harvard’s senior director of federal and state relations.

“The governor is proposing a robust package of legislation that we think will go a long way to preserving and situating us for when federal regulations on stem cell research are lifted so that we will remain in the forefront in the field,” Casey says.

Yet state funding still poses some restrictions, Casey says, as states have neither the financial resources nor the ability to efficiently work across state and institutional borders. He adds that differing policies on stem cell research from state to state also pose a challenge.

“To have some states moving forward and some restricting progress—it is really not conducive to a seamless approach to research,” Casey says.

Recognizing the importance of dissent in shaping the opportunities for future research, HSCI tries to ensure that all viewpoints are represented in public policy and ethical discussions.

“We have participated and committed an enormous amount of time and effort to addressing these concerns, as that opposition has really resulted in formulation of policy at the national level” says Scadden, noting that some members of the Harvard community have expressed concerns about the institute’s work.

CONSTANT ACCELERATION

Harvard’s creation of inter-disciplinary endeavors is accelerating, perhaps due in part to the success of ventures like HSCI.

This April, the University created the Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology, a new cross-school department. The first of its kind in Harvard history, the department represents a collaborative effort between the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Medical School.

The department will focus in large part on stem-cell biology, and Melton and Scadden will serve as co-chairs.

Melton says the new department will “allow this field to flourish and to grow even more in the Harvard community,” as the missions of the department and institute overlap, but will allow for additional undergraduate education.

HSCI also sponsors a summer internship program for undergraduates. Students who attended the institute’s first program founded the Harvard College Stem Cell Society (HCSCS) the next year, says HCSCS President Nicole Ali ’08. The group is not directly affiliated with HSCI.

HSCI has attracted more than just students. Since its founding, it has also become a destination for those interested in stem cell policy. According to Reeve, members of the Norwegian Parliament who were debating a stem cell research bill within their own country paid a visit to HSCI.

“It’s one-stop shopping—it’s a place where they were having all these conversations about science and policy, bringing these resources under one umbrella,” Reeve says. “We have created a momentum, and we will continue to capitalize upon it.”

He says that HSCI will keep growing, especially when it moves into its new home in Allston.

Plans for the new facility call for a open labs that will offer shared reserach space for affiliates of the stem cell institue in order to promote on-site collaboration between scientists, according to Scadden.

The new site will house some of the existing faculty, as well as a significant number of new hires. Scadden said it will be the “central home,” but not the “exclusive” one, of stem cell researchers in the area.

—Staff writer Aditi Balakrishna can be reached at balakris@fas.harvard.edu.