Gov. Jim Doyle announced Wisconsin's plan to invest in biotechnology and health science industries Tuesday at the Genetics/Biotechnology center on Henry Mall. With recent major contributions toward research in California, the governor, along with UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley, emphasized the need to intensify Wisconsin's own biomedical findings.
\Wisconsin can't match California dollar for dollar,"" Doyle said, ""but California can't match what Wisconsin already has: the best scientists in the world and first-class research institutions.""
Gov. Doyle plans to continue these research efforts by allotting state funds to the development of the estimated $375 million Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. The center will include modern labs that facilitate scientific collaboration between engineers, biochemists, chemists, mathematicians and medical scientists.
""All things are converging ... with all areas of science building off of each other, this plan is an exact fit,"" Wiley said.
The cross-disciplinary action is a major strength of the plan, Doyle added.
The biomedical initiative calls for state research funding in conjunction with private industry contributions. The initiative also requests new legislation to ensure researchers will be able to take their discoveries and turn them into entrepreneurial endeavors.
""By removing those bureaucratic hurdles, we will ensure that those UW faculty members who wish to can engage in both research and startup businesses,"" Doyle said. The governor anticipates businesses generated by medical research will not only benefit the field, but the economy of the state.
A major portion of the funding will benefit the area of Alzheimer's disease research, which has recently been moving forward in great strides, according to Jeff Johnson, UW-Madison associate professor in the School of Pharmacy. Within the past months, research has been published on a protein that actually reverses the effects of the disease in mice.
""What really excites me is that there really are no drugs out there that actually treat the pathogenic processes of the disease."" Johnson said of the findings. He said he plans to form relationships with pharmaceutical companies in hopes of bettering the lives of the estimated 5 million U.S. citizens afflicted with the disease.
As a leader in stem cell research and technology, UW-Madison hopes to stay at the forefront of this field, including the controversial area of embryonic stem cells. Under current federal regulations, scientists cannot study embryonic stem cells, which are predicted to benefit those with any of a range of diseases. Gov. Doyle said he will do what it takes to work through the restrictions and move toward stem cell freedom.
""Embryonic stem cells show a remarkable potential,"" said James Thomson UW-Madison Medical School professor, part of the team that originally isolated the stem cell in 1998.
