City could become stem cell center; UMass Memorial would get funding

UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester would be home to a stem cell bank housing stem cell lines from all of the state's major research institutions, and provide stem cell material to researchers around the world, under a $1 billion biotechnology research and development plan unveiled yesterday by Gov. Deval L. Patrick.

Mr. Patrick announced the initiative, which would invest $1 billion in state operating and bond funds in biotechnology development initiatives over the next 10 years, saying he planned to advance the state's position as "quite simply the largest life sciences supercluster" in the world, already producing one in seven jobs in Massachusetts.

UMass Memorial would operate the nation's first repository of existing and new stem cell lines, which would be donated from Boston University, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Children's Hospital, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT, Partners Health Care and UMass, all of which have already agreed to participate, Mr. Patrick said.

It would provide stem cell materials, including old and new embryonic stem cell lines, to researchers in all sectors, public and private, in the U.S. and other countries.

Mr. Patrick said the Massachusetts stem cell bank "will be the world's largest catalog of stem cell lines widely available to researchers, and allow us to cut through the administrative clutter associated with storing, handling and shipping stem cell lines."

"Researchers all over the world will have access to stem cell lines truly made in Massachusetts," Mr. Patrick said, adding that he is dedicated to making the state the "capital of stem cell research on the planet."

The stem cell bank may initially be housed in UMass Memorial Medical Center space at the former Digital plant on South Street in Shrewsbury and the Hoagland-Pincus Conference Center in Shrewsbury, formerly the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, until larger new facilities are built it at the medical center's university campus.

UMass President Jack Wilson said he expects that the expanded biomedical research centers and the stem cell bank would require at least one and possibly two new large research buildings at the medical school, besides the ongoing construction of a $100 million clinical care and clinical research building.

Mr. Patrick announced the plans at a press conference yesterday afternoon in the Massachusetts pavilion at the International Biotechnology Conference exposition at the Boston Convention Center.

He said he is hoping to not only maintain the state's pre-eminent position in biotech research and development, but expand it to maintain that elite position, along with increased biotechnology manufacturing around the state.

"There is no place in the world with as much talent in life sciences and biotech as here in Massachusetts," Mr. Patrick said. "Now is the time to invest in that talent."

The investment package he outlined would focus on several strategies, including filling in a gap in research money resulting from flat funding over the last three years from the National Institutes of Health, which is the principal source of pure biomedical research funds and provides an estimated $2 billion annually to Massachusetts research efforts.

Mr. Patrick said the state will also try to promote embryonic stem cell research in a way that will "bypass the impact of national politics," including President Bush's policy of restricting federally funded stem cell research to stem cell lines existing in 2003, which Mr. Patrick said has put the U.S. behind other nations in exploring the promise of possible disease cures.

"Politics, especially around stem cell research, impairs the innovation and calculated risk-taking that makes breakthroughs possible," he said, adding that he wants state policies advancing biomedical research that focus on cures, "not ideology and short-term political gain."

State funds would also be used to establish Life Science Fellowship grants for research institutions, and establishment of life science innovation centers in several regions of the state aimed at transferring research to commercial products and medical therapies.

Of the $1 billion investment, $500 million in capital funds would go to public higher education and research facilities and equipment in collaboration with the life sciences industry; $250 million would be laid out in research grants, fellowships and workforce training initiatives; and $250 million would be in tax benefits from biotech expansions targeted toward job creation.

The plan also anticipates use of $250 million in private-sector matching funds that would be channeled into capital investments, research grants and other workforce training initiatives.

Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, D-Boston, stood alongside the governor to announce their enthusiastic support for the initiatives, which will require legislative approval.

Ms. Murray said she will add a "companion" piece to support biotechnology research in the Senate budget for next year when it is moved through the Senate next week. "And I can't wait to get started," she said.

The governor's office said the initial operating funds for the program he outlined would not be included in the fiscal 2008 budget but would be sought in the fiscal 2009 budget, which would make it available starting in July 2008.

Nobel prize winning researcher Craig C. Mello, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School - whose breakthrough research on RNAi gene silencing techniques holds promise for new treatments for diabetes, cancer and HIV/AIDS - smiled and applauded as the governor explained the details at the event.

"I think this is great. It is one part of bringing the community together and showing the government is going to support this industry and value this industry and try to foster the academic engine that really drives this whole industry," he said. "You heard the governor say he wanted to spread this out of the Boston area to the whole state."

The stem cell bank would be a major project, he said. "It's a big responsibility and it has got to be managed in a great high-tech way so that it is safe and secure" and provides distribution around the world. "We believe it's important for the medical school because it will bring new researchers to the medical" school, he said.

"It will be a magnet to help us build a really state-of-the-art stem cell center," Mr. Mello said.