The passage of a California ballot initiative to fund stem-cell research could be harmful to UW-Madison, one of the leading embryonic stem-cell research centers in the country,
Proposition 71, which passed last Tuesday, provides $3 billion for stem-cell research in California. Scientists can use this money for research involving new embryonic stem-cell lines, which is prohibited for projects using federal funding.
According to Clive Svendsen, a professor of anatomy and neurology at UW-Madison's Waisman Center, the enticing environment now available in California may draw students interested in stem-cell research away from other institutions, including UW-Madison.
\Obviously, this is going to hurt a little bit,"" he said. ""The reason is that above and beyond having good resources to do research, we also need good people. And I think a lot of post-docs and students who want to do human embryonic stem-cell research may be attracted to California because that's where the money is.""
Waisman Center research assistant Aaron Nelson said aside from the ""brain drain"" problem, this initiative makes it difficult for non-Californian researchers to collaborate with Californians on projects.
""Funding initiatives like the one in California will cause problems in some respects,"" he said. ""Collaborations will be difficult because of the restrictions imposed by Bush previously.""
According to Nelson, since the funding for California can be used for projects involving new stem cell lines, while federally funded projects must use older lines, the new Californian projects would not be able to collaborate with many other institutions who use federal funding.
But University of California-Berkeley Assistant Professor of Bioethics and Society David Winickoff said while the proposition will probably affect most other stem-cell research institutions, Wisconsin should not be hit very hard.
""Wisconsin has a pretty good stem cell operation existing already, as opposed to many other universities, so it may be less of an issue for Wisconsin than for other research establishments,"" he said.
Both Svendsen and Nelson said Wisconsin could minimize the damage by introducing its own Proposition 71 or helping stem-cell research in other ways.
""If there's the will, then I think there's the way,"" Svendsen said. ""We need to initiate something with the government to try and pass our own type of Proposition 71. I think it would be great for the state.""
Nelson added the state could also retain researchers by increasing the benefits for biotechnology companies in the area.
