The world's first embryonic stem cell bank should be up
and running within a year. The U.K. Medical Research Council
(MRC) announced yesterday that it has awarded a contract
to establish the new bank, which will collect and distribute
stem cell lines derived from human embryos and fetal and
adult tissue.
 |
Clarifying plans. NIBSC won a $4 million
contract to run the bank.
CREDIT:
A. DAVIES |
The bank may someday hold thousands of human embryonic
stem (hES) cell lines tailored to treat a range of maladies
such as diabetes and Parkinson's disease, says MRC's
executive director George Radda. The idea is to collect
enough cell lines to customize treatments to the immune
system of any possible patient, he says. By some estimates
that could require as many as 4000 lines. The National
Institute for Biological Standards and Control, which
will host the bank at a facility near London, will receive
£2.6 million ($4 million) over 3 years, three-quarters
from MRC and one-quarter from the Biotechnology and
Biological Sciences Research Council.
The bank will be guaranteed deposits from British researchers.
They must obtain a license from the national Human Fertilisation
and Embryology Authority to derive new cell lines, and
one of the conditions of the license is that any resulting
lines must be deposited in the stem cell bank. In addition,
the bank "will actively recruit" the holders of existing
hES cell lines around the world to deposit their cells,
Radda says, and will work out intellectual property
agreements with cell donors on a case-by-case basis.
However, some experts warn that it's far from clear
how many holders of existing hES cell lines will be
willing to relinquish even partial control of one of
biomedicine's hottest commodities.
The bank will make cells available to researchers worldwide,
although all donors and recipients will have to abide
by ethical conditions yet to be set by the bank. Academic
researchers will pay a modest fee for the cells, Radda
says, but the bank hopes to support itself in part through
higher fees from commercial researchers. An independent
steering committee--whose members are to be named in
the coming weeks--will draw up the bank's detailed rules
of operation.
The bank "is an extremely important move" for the stem
cell field, says Roger Pedersen of the University of
Cambridge. "One of the most difficult points for anyone
starting out in the field is getting hold of well-characterized
cells," he says.
--GRETCHEN VOGEL
Related sites
Medical
Research Council stem cell information
National Institute of Biological
Standards and Control
