Pera to leave Stem Cell Centre for California

Internationally renowned embryonic stem cell expert Martin Pera will leave Monash University and the Australian Stem Cell Centre (ASCC) in April to head the newly created Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM) at the University of Southern California.

Pera is currently a research professor and director of the Monash Institute of Medical Research and director of embryonic stem cell research at the ASCC, where he was one of the founding scientists.

He was born in the US but has not lived there for 25 years. "It's like a foreign country to me now," he told Australian Biotechnology News.

"I've been at Monash for nine years. I guess my main achievement has been my involvement in taking part in the foundation of the human embryonic stem cell field -- in disseminating technology in that area, developing new approaches to growth of the differentiation of stem cells and taking part in the ethical and political debates."

Pera will be director of the new multidisciplinary ISCRM, a basic research institute which "will eventually comprise of some 20 research groups working on basic aspects of stem cell biology, in the areas of human embryonic stem cells, develop biology related to stem cells and tissue regeneration and repair," he said.

The institute will have strong links to clinical groups in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California with a focus on translating stem cell research into new therapies. ISCRM will also work with teams from the California Institute of Technology and other regional institutions to develop novel technologies for stem cell research.

"I've really enjoyed my time at Monash and at the Stem Cell Centre, and the terrific opportunities I've had here to contribute," said Pera. "I will be maintaining very close links both with Monash and with the Australian Stem Cell Centre."

ASCC CEO Hugh Niall said that Pera's departure was an obvious loss to the centre. "[Pera] will be retaining close ties to us, and will be returning to visit on a regular basis," said Niall. "We're not going to lose contact with Martin -- we will be following his work pretty closely."

Financial lure

Last year, Californian voters backed Proposition 71, an incentive which pumped US$3 billion into stem cell research. Other US states feared a brain drain of research talent to California.

Pera departs Australia in the footsteps of the ASCC's vice-president of clinical cardiac development, Dianna DeVore, who announced in December that she would also be returning to California to pursue stem cell collaborative opportunities after more than three years in Australia.

"Australia has been fortunate to have people of that calibre work here," said Niall. "We expect others will come over to Australia. Australia has got a very strong stem cell research operation going and we anticipate that we'll be able to attract other international people of high standing as well."

Pera said that while California offered the prospect of an "enormous amount of financial resources", Australia's stem cell strengths were in its people, which he described as its most important resource.

"This is a very personal career choice, to take an opportunity to build a new institute, one that I hope will make a significant contribution," he said.

Pera added that Australia's current regulatory environment was not a key factor in making his decision. "I think the recommendations of the Lockhart review [of stem cell legislation] are very sound ones," said Pera. "I think we have every chance of changing the existing legislation and to that extent somatic cell nuclear transfer research in Australia."

Attracting talent

Niall said it was important that the Lockhart review's recommendation to permit stem cell nuclear transfer experiments in Australia was implemented, "to put Australian stem cell scientists on an equal footing with those in the United States and the United Kingdom, where these sort of experiments can be done.

"Australia needs to continue to attract and retain stem cell scientists -- we do need to have an environment in which they feel they're able to maximise their scientific potential in the area," he said.

Pera said that the area of stem cell research required an international effort. "I don't take a parochial view of this field," he said. "In general, there will be international fluidity in terms of where people work -- there will be movement of people in this field. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing."

Pioneering work

In the 1980s and 1990s, Pera was part of a small group of researchers who pioneered the isolation and characterisation of pluripotent stem cells from human germ cell tumours of the testis. His laboratory at Monash University was the second in the world to isolate embryonic stem cells from the human blastocyst, and the first to describe their differentiation into somatic cells in vitro.

Pera said embryonic stem cell research would always remain controversial.

"Public opinion has changed considerably in the course of the past five years and there is quite substantial support in this area now. Once it begins to achieve real success, the voices of opposition will decline," he said.

He said recent events in South Korea, where stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk admitted to fabricating data, were very unfortunate for scientists.

"I don't think it will colour the whole field," he said. But he said the scandal provided more reason for pursuing somatic cell nuclear transfer in Australia in a rigorous and ethical fashion.

"I think we have a real chance to take a lead in this area," he said. "I think the operation of the existing legislation with respect to the use of spare embryos and researchers has shown that we can engage in these areas, with proper regulation and a sound ethical framework."