Organizers were hoping to use the three-day event as a chance
to showcase the tiny island's budding biomedical sector.
With strong governmental support, Singapore has become a center
for research into human embryonic stem cells — master cells
that can grow into almost any tissue in the body. Scientists hope
to use them one day to replace unhealthy cells as a cure for a
variety of diseases.
"Most of the big names are here," said Dr. Ariff Bongso, a Singapore
scientist who became the first to grow human stem cells without
using animal cells in June 2002.
Previously, scientists would grow stem cells by taking a small
amount of human stem cells and combining them with a larger amount
of animal tissue, which acts as a soil to nurture the stem cells.
However, there were concerns that cells grown this way could infect
humans with animal viruses.
Bongso pioneered a method of growing human stem cells using
human tissue as a feeder instead of animal tissue.
"There are people who discover things and people who colonize
things," said Dr. Ron McKay of the National Institutes of Health
(news
- web
sites) in Bethesda, Md. "In the embryonic stem cell field,
(Bongso) is a discoverer."
Much of the emphasis on the conference's first day was on attracting
more talent and investment to Singapore. Recruiting people away
from the biomedical research centers of the United States and
Europe has posed a challenge for the island.
On Wednesday, the government will unveil its resort-like Biopolis,
created to give biotech researchers and their families a place
to live and work.
"The whole purpose of this meeting is to show them our Biopolis,"
Bongso said.
Stem cells are created in the first days of pregnancy and develop
into the human body. The field is controversial because days-old
embryos must be destroyed to harvest the stem cells, drawing opposition
from some anti-abortion activists.
Because of the ethical concerns, President Bush (news
- web
sites) restricted federal funding two years ago to those cell
lines that already were being used for research.
Singapore, in contrast, has some of the world's most liberal
guidelines for stem cell research, which allow scientists to clone
human embryos and keep them alive for up to 14 days to extract
the stem cells.
The research-friendly policies and generous government funding
have already helped jump-start the tiny city-state's nascent stem
cell sector.
Ahead of the conference, Singapore and the New York-based Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation International launched a $3 million
funding program to support stem cell research here.
Last year, Alan Colman, a British scientist who helped clone
Dolly the Sheep in 1996, moved here to head research into using
stem cells to cure diabetes.
Among the speakers at the conference are Harvard University
stem cell scientist Douglas Melton and Dr. Irving Weissman, head
of the stem cell research program Stanford University, a statement
from the organizers said.
Also attending are Nobel laureate David Biltmore of the California
Institute of Technology and Catherine Verfaillie, head of the
University of Minnesota's Stem Cell Institute, it said.