Roger Pederson flees UCSF as campus drops research
17 July 2001, 1 pm GMT
An increasingly hostile political climate in the United States surrounding stem cell research is driving Roger Pederson, a biology professor at the University of California, San Francisco, to Cambridge University in England.
Britain publicly supports Pedersen's research, which requires the destruction of days-old embryos, while the United States government currently does not.
Excess frozen embryos obtained from fertility clinics were being handled by Pedersen and his nine stem cell research colleagues.
Stem cells researchers say that their work explores possible cures for a wide range of diseases, but in the Usa not public funding is available for such research, while private funding is legal.
Stem cells are formed in the first few days after an egg is fertilized with sperm. Stem cells are indistinguishable from one another, yet they grow into 200 different types of adult cells that build the human body.
Researchers believe they can manipulate stem cells to grow into adult cells of their choosing, which then could be used to treat disorders in everything from the brain to the heart.
"I was faced with an irresistible career opportunity and the possibility of carrying out my research on human embryonic stem cell research with public support" Pedersen says in a press release issued by the university.
Pedersen was working with excess frozen embryos destined for disposal that were obtained from fertility clinics.
The University of Wisconsin made a similar off-campus move with its embryonic stem cell research in October 1999.
James Thomson first extracted stem cells from embryos supplied by fertility clinics at Wisconsin in 1998, and that university continues to be the chief manufacturer and supplier of stem cells.
Some U.S. supporters of the research fear a brain drain will occur in this country if Bush decides to prohibit the use of public funds for embryonic stem cell research.
Geron, which funded Thomson's research, said it is making contingency plans to move some of its stem cell research to Scotland, where it owns the company that cloned Dolly the sheep.
www.ucsf.edu
www.nih.gov

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