Rockefeller University establishes stem cell research center

$5 million endowment by NYC philanthropist Harriet Heilbrunn for research to advance basic research knowledge about stem cells

For more information about Rockefeller research using stem cells, visit http://www.rockefeller.edu/stemcell.

A colony of human embryonic cells grows in a medium of mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Many researchers are eager to study new human embryonic stem cell lines that can be grown in human rather than mice media.

With the support of a $5 million endowment donated by New York City philanthropist Harriet Heilbrunn, The Rockefeller University has established the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Center for Stem Cell Research.

“We are deeply grateful to Mrs. Heilbrunn for her exceptional generosity, which enables us to establish this new center,” says Paul Nurse, Ph.D., Rockefeller University president. “The Heilbrunn endowment provides a stable financial base for our stem cell studies, allowing the university to plan ahead in building a robust program in this vital area of science.”

“I am convinced that stem cell research holds great promise for the treatment of many diseases,” said Harriet Heilbrunn. “I am equally confident that The Rockefeller University, with its outstanding researchers and long tradition of academic excellence, can make valuable discoveries in basic research on stem cells. I want my gift to provide a bedrock of support for this work and inspire others to support stem cell investigations.”

The Heilbrunn Center will expand Rockefeller University investigations of the fundamental biology of both laboratory animal stem cells and human stem cells. Six of the more than 70 laboratories at the university now conduct basic research with embryonic, neuronal and skin stem cells derived from mice, laboratory cultures of human adult skin stem cells, and human embryonic stem cells, from both National Institutes of Health Registry and non-Registry cell lines.

“Basic research forms the foundation upon which all major advances in diagnosis and treatment develop,” says Nurse. “Because stem cells are the precursors to virtually every type of cell in the body, we hope that we can learn how to manipulate them to repair diseased or damaged body tissues and organs. However, to fulfill that hope, we must first know more about the basic biology of these cells. That’s what we hope to accomplish at Rockefeller.”

The basic research supported by the Heilbrunn Center is relevant to understanding early-onset diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, skin diseases such as basal and squamous cell carcinoma, and vision disorders such as macular degeneration, and to elucidating the complexities of the developing nervous system.

In addition to the Heilbrunn endowment grant, these studies are supported by contributions to a new fund for stem cell research, established by the Rockefeller University Council, an international advisory group of distinguished leaders in business and industry, education, law, finance and many other fields. Since 2001, a total of $3 million has been contributed in support of stem cell investigations at the university.

Rockefeller scientists already have been responsible for several noteworthy advances in stem cell biology. In a January 2004 report in Nature Medicine, scientists at the university described a technique that successfully maintains the integrity of human embryonic stem cells in laboratory cell cultures. The technique, using a compound abbreviated BIO, preserves the cells’ pluripotency — the potential to develop into any type of cell in the body — and thereby eliminates the need for the mouse-derived “feeder cells” that have been used to maintain human embryonic stem cells in laboratory cultures.

Under current federal guidelines, NIH and other government funding of research with human embryonic stem cells is restricted to the NIH Registry lines created before August 9, 2001. However, relatively few lines are in the registry, and they were grown in media containing mouse cells. For these and other reasons, the NIH Registry lines are not appropriate for all basic science and cannot be safely used in developing therapies for human patients.

In announcing the creation of the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Center for Stem Cell Research, Nurse emphasized The Rockefeller University’s policy prohibiting the use of human embryonic stem cells for reproductive purposes. The university’s Human Stem Cell Bioethics Group advises and guides the university about research on stem cells.

For more information about Rockefeller research using stem cells, visithttp://www.rockefeller.edu/stemcell.

The Heilbrunns and Rockefeller University:

Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn joined the Rockefeller University Council in 1997. At Rockefeller, their philanthropy has been directed to research relating to diabetes and cancer, and they established endowed professorship for scientists working in these areas. Markus Stoffel, M.D., Ph.D., holds the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Professorship in Diabetes Research, and Robert Darnell, M.D., Ph.D., holds the Heilbrunn Chair in Cancer Biology. The Heilbrunns also provided support for The Rockefeller University Hospital. Robert Heilbrunn, who had a long and successful career as an investment manager, died in 2001 at the age of 93. In 2003, in recognition of the Heilbrunns’ generosity, the university renamed the hospital’s newly modernized outpatient clinic as the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Outpatient Research Center.

The Rockefeller University:

Founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1901, The Rockefeller University today is internationally renowned for research and graduate education in the biomedical and biological sciences. A total of 23 scientists associated with the university have received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and Chemistry, 19 Rockefeller scientists have received Lasker Awards, five have been named MacArthur Fellows and 12 have garnered the National Medal of Science. More than one-third of the current faculty are elected members of the National Academy of Sciences.