NIH awards will establish three new stem cell research centers

NIH awards will establish three new stem cell research centers

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded funding to establish three new Exploratory Centers for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research. The three new grants go to Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, and the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, CA. These new centers, which will receive an estimated $9 million over three years, join three existing centers established in 2003. The previously funded centers are at the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, and the WiCell Research Institute in Madison, Wisconsin.

All of the centers are limited to using federally approved stem cell lines. Each facility will support and train scientists to define the growth conditions and molecular characteristics required for maintaining human embryonic stem cells in an undifferentiated state. Scientists at the centers will also work on specific pilot projects to advance fundamental knowledge of human embryonic stem cell properties and functions.

To view the press release announcing the three new center awards, please go to http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/aug2005/nigms-09.htm/

Source: AAMC STAT, August 15, 2005