Australian stem cell scientists 'cutting edge'

The world's leading non-profit funder of diabetes research was in Australia this week (February 27) to seek out Australian stem cell scientists.

Dr Robert Goldstein, chief scientific officer for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, was here to scout for further opportunities to fund diabetes research.

The JDRF supports embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning.

"We want to fund the very best of embryonic stem cell research and Australia is at the cutting edge," Goldstein said. The foundation had put in several million dollars toward embryonic stem cell research in Australia, US and UK, and "we want to do more in Australia and take advantage of the supportive and positive environment," he said.

Goldstein's visit to Australia coincided with a resurgence in fears among the research community that embryonic stem cell research would be banned by the Federal government.

Together with the National Health and Medical Research Council, the JDRF has pumped $10 million into juvenile diabetes research in Australia.

"Australia has a big part to play in the international scene," Goldstein said.

Prof Martin Pera, at Monash University's Institute for Reproduction and Development, is funded by the JDRF to develop embryonic stem cells that can be used to reverse diabetes.

A smaller JDRF grant was provided to Prof Bernie Tuch's team at the pancreatic transplant unit at Prince of Wales Hospital, NSW, which researches the production of insulin-producing cells from human embryonic stem cells.

The JDRF also funds adult stem cell research.

Tuch's group partners the Sydney IVF clinic, the only Australian clinic that provides donated surplus embryos for research.

Sydney IVF director Prof Robert Jansen said that the research project was not currently active, but the clinic would be able to quickly supply the cell lines when needed.

But Pera, whose stem cell lines derive from the $17 million Singapore IVF facility that was set up by his Australian colleagues, said making cell lines was an expensive business.

"Currently we are not making stem cell lines but are focusing on research using existing cell lines," he said.

For now, all embryonic stem cell research in Australia is performed using existing stem cell lines.

But Pera warned that more cell lines would be have to be extracted from surplus IVF embryos if researchers hoped to turn the stem cells into therapies for diseases such as diabetes or Alzheimer's.