Stem Cell Centre's DeVore to relocate back to US

After three years with the Australian Stem Cell Centre (ASCC), Dr Dianna DeVore has resigned as vice-president of clinical cardiac development, and will be returning to California to pursue stem cell collaborative opportunities, effective December 31.

DeVore, a Californian licensed attorney who had previously worked at Irish firm Elan Pharmaceuticals, joined the ASCC as chief operating officer and has played a significant role in the centre's establishment, as well as helping to develop its intellectual property process and portfolio.

"I can't divulge more about what I'll be doing just yet because it's in development," DeVore told Australian Biotechnology News, "but I do believe that it will continue to be of benefit to Australia."

DeVore said that funding opportunities in California following the state's Proposition 71 legislation had created a greater "critical mass" over there.

"It is a really good climate right now in the United States to be starting the particular type of venture I'm looking to pursue," said DeVore. "The funding, but also the energy, that is surrounding the area of regenerative medicine is extremely positive there right now."

DeVore will continue to work with the ASCC as a consultant, particularly in the area of international education and stem cell community collaborations.

"While I'm returning home, I'm really pleased that I'm going to be retaining some significant ties here in Australia," said DeVore. "I'm hoping that what I'll end up doing will be beneficial to Australia as well as to California.

"If we want to really drive the field forward, I think that international collaborations is the best way to go about it."

'Belief in stem cells'

Formerly Elan Pharmaceuticals' associate director of biopharmaceutical patents, DeVore said that she joined ASCC because she "believed in stem cells".

"I had worked with a group that was developing therapeutics for Parkinson's disease and I thought that the whole idea of the centre of excellence that was devoted to that area of research was tremendous," she said.

This was at a time before other groups globally had considered this approach with the same sort of attitude, she said. "So we had this early opportunity to do something in this area which I fundamentally believed was going to change the way medicine would be practised.

"And the talent that Australia had, in both embryonic and adult stem cells, was terrific," she said.

DeVore is proud of the model that the ASCC created for cooperation between the universities and research institutes, describing it as unprecedented.

"When we first set up the centre, we looked around for other models that we could potentially build our model from, and there wasn't a lot there," she said. "We have a good cooperation model that is very fair and really promotes collaboration between the groups."

Management rethink

Asked about her replacement, DeVore said the ASCC would restructure management roles.

She said she was confident that under the stewardship of ASCC's new chairman Prof Vicki Sara the centre will "move forward in a way that will build upon what we've done but we'll be able to move more quickly".

"She is going to provide an element to the centre that is going to really complement the existing expertise," said DeVore.

The last couple of years have been an establishment phase for the ASCC, said DeVore, and many operational elements have been put in place.

"The next period of time is actually going to be very exciting," she said. "The Stem Cell Centre is poised to really start moving much more quickly in terms of scientific results and activities, and building integrated programs from our projects."

Among the areas of stem cell research in which Australia is particularly competitive, according to DeVore, are platform technologies in human embryonic stem cells and blood development.

In human embryonic stem cells, Australian scientists have "a fundamental ability to manipulate the cells in ways that people don't overseas," said DeVore.

The ASCC is pulling together an integrated strategy for work on blood cells.

"That's the construct of Stephen Livesey," said DeVore, "but some of our scientists, Andrew Elefanty and Ed Stanley, are doing some spectacular work in producing blood cells."