Stem cell centre swings into action as funding finally approved

Activities at the National Stem Cell Centre were delayed by an inquiry into allegations that it was given preferential treatment during bidding for Commonwealth funding, the centre's chief operating officer, Dr Dianna DeVore, said today.

Prime Minister John Howard's December 24 announcement that a report by independent consultant Geoff Allen found no basis to the allegations was "a wonderful Christmas present," DeVore said.

That vindication finally cleared the way for a Commonwealth grant of $43.55 million to begin flowing to the National Stem Cell Centre. The funding was pledged back in May 2002 when the Stem Cell Centre consortium won a national tender to operate Australia's first biotechnology centre of excellence.

Operations at the centre were suspended during vigorous, protracted parliamentary debate over the Research Involving Embryos Bill 2002, which was finally resolved by the passing of the bill in both the Senate and the House of Representatives in December.

PM Howard commissioned the Allen report after the preferential treatment allegations were made during the parliamentary hearings. The report, which the PM will table during the first parliamentary sitting of the year in February, said that the process used to select the winning bid "represents the high end, or even marks new standards, of best practice in the integrity of such processes."

But the delay has put the centre's activities back substantially, and there is a lot to be done before it can officially starts its research activities, DeVore said. "It's going to have to be done in stages. It will take at least six months to get all of the central agreements signed off and in place," she explained.

She said that the first task for the centre would be to finalise the agreement with Commonwealth government agencies. Meetings with Biotechnology Australia and the Australian Research Council, which are jointly involved with providing funding and overseeing the centre, are scheduled for next week in Canberra.

Negotiations with the various groups behind the centre will also be resumed. Stakeholders in the centre include universities like Monash, UNSW and Adelaide, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, the Institute for Moleculular Bioscience in Brisbane, and private companies like BresaGen and ES Cell International.

"We're just at the beginning stages of negotiations with both the academic and commercial partners," DeVore said. "We're getting in touch with everyone this week."

The response so far from the centre's partners has been very positive, she said. "Everyone is delighted. A lot of people have worked very hard on this."

In addition, the centre's scientific executive committee, which includes the research team leaders as well as management personnel, will be busy devising the overall research strategy to get the centre moving forward.

Physically, the Victorian node of the centre will be located in the Monash Strip, which is under construction. DeVore said the centre's Victorian-based researchers would probably be able to move into the new laboratories by the end of the third quarter of this year, although the centre will be functioning before then.