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Sweden's Stem Cell Success
Saturday, 19 October 2002
SWEDEN is considered to be at the forefront of stem cell science and
technology — an area Singapore, Israel, India and many other of the ‘big’
science countries are pursuing actively — and could offer some lessons for
the industry elsewhere.
The country’s stem cell industry has all the right ingredients for future
expansion and success: strong public support, a favourable bioethical
climate, a tradition of science and research, and strong government funding.
In Sweden, there are more than 30 research groups and close to 300 people
at nine Swedish institutions involved in stem cell research. To put this in
perspective, there are fewer than 10 such groups in Singapore.
Sweden is ahead of many other countries with the legislation and the
recent establishment and funding of a national stem cell bank, even before
Britain in this case. Last month, the Swedish National Research Council
granted about US$ 1 million to fund a national stem cell bank for the next
three years.
There is none of the debate roiling in the United States and elsewhere,
over stem-cell research, which has led to scientists there bemoaning the
speed at which advances take place. Instead, the framework for legislation
and ethical guidelines for this kind of research has been worked out
quietly and reasonable fast.
Sweden allows stem cells to be taken from embryos that can no longer be
used for further IVF treatment, something that is prohibited elsewhere.
The creation of embryos by cloning for therapeutic purposes — using genetic
material from a patient's own cells — to get access to stem cells is also
deemed ethically defensible, even though it has not yet been pursued.
The main reason for Sweden's success in this field, however, is a long
tradition of biomedical science and research. For instance, Professor
Patrik Brundin, who heads the section for Neuronal Survival at the
Wallenberg Neuroscience Centre at Lund University, has been transplanting
neural tissue from aborted embryos six to eight weeks old into patients
with Parkinson's disease for more than 15 years.
Government funding has also poured into the bioscience field in general,
and because of its success, money from outside the country has also come
in.
In March, for example, a joint US-Swedish research programme was announced,
securing 75 million Swedish kronor (US$7.5 million) in additional funding
for stem-cell research in the country.
Also in March, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
awarded US$4.4 million in research grants for the production of a cell line
designed to advance the study and treatment of the disease, which the actor
suffers from.
And last month, the Swedish Research Council granted the first specific
funding of stem-cell research in a new Joint Program on Stem Cell
Research. Nine projects and two extensive networks (see Table 1)
will share approximately US$ 4.5 million for a period of three years in
research funds, including the start-up funding for a national stem-cell
bank. From fifty applications, these eleven projects were selected after
being reviewed and judged by a panel of international researchers active in
the stem cell field.
"The entire stem cell field is on the threshold of development. These
grants are extremely important for advancing research so that we can
identify areas with the greatest potential," said Harriet
Wallberg-Henriksson, Secretary General of the Medicine section at the
Swedish Research Council.
"Today, we hope that stem cells will eventually be able to cure a
number of diseases - but before we can say if, and if so, when this will be
possible, much intensive research is needed."
Prof. Brundin, from Lund University, complained in a recent news article:
"There is so much media hype. There are 10 times as many articles
about biotechnology and stem cells today than just a decade ago."
"But though the field has tremendous potential, we're looking at a
development over 15 to 20 years."
Later in the autumn, an additional US$ 500.000 grant will be awarded for
research on ethical and legal issues.
This is perhaps Sweden's best lesson for the rest of the ‘stem cell’
world: Be prepared for the long haul.
Table 1.
Swedish Stem Cell Projects:
Cellular and molecular characterization of stem
cell proliferation and differentiation
Ernest Arenas, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm: 2.7 million SEK
Survival of neural stem
cells and their differentiated progeny in vitro and in vivo
Patrik Brundin, Lund University: 1.5 million SEK
Genome-wide analysis of genetic reprogramming in neuronal stem cell
development
Carlos F Ibáńez, Karolinska Institute: 3 million SEK
Genetic control of hematopoietic stem cell fate: Therapeutic implications
Stefan Karlsson, Lund University: 2.4 million SEK
Notch signalling and stem cell differentiation
Urban Lendahl, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm: 3 million SEK
Cancer cells, are they stem cells without control?
Monica Nistér, Karolinska Institutet,
Stockholm: 2.4 million SEK
Epigenetic reprogramming
and transdifferentiation of somatic cells
Rolf Ohlsson, Uppsala University: 3 million SEK
Differentiation of functional pancreatic beta cells from human embryonic
stem cells
Henrik Semb, Göteborg University: 1.8 million SEK
Utilization of endothelial-derived signals for differentiating embryonic
stem cells to insulin producing cells
Michael Welsh, Uppsala University: 1.8 million SEK
Network for somatic stem
cell plasticity
Sten-Eirik Jacobsen, Lund University: 12 million SEK
Stem Cell Bank: Derivation,
characterization, and banking of human embryonic stem cells
Lars Ährlund-Richter, Karolinska Institute: 10.5 million SEK
Source: Funds
Awarded to Nervous System Projects and Stem Cell Bank Networks
(Comment: US$1 ≈ 10 SEK)
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