Research group to run federal embryonic stem cell bank

MADISON, Wis. – A Wisconsin-based research group will run the nation’s first embryonic stem cell bank under a four-year, $16 million federal contract, officials announced Monday.

The WiCell Research Institute will store and distribute the cells under a federal plan to reduce their cost. “At a minimum, we will be a single portal so people can do one-stop shopping” for stem cells, said the group’s Carl Gulbrandsen.

In 2001, President Bush limited federal grant funding to projects involving 78 lines of embryonic stem cells that already were in existence, saying taxpayer dollars should not pay for the destruction of human embryos. That policy has stifled the field, researchers say, and only 22 lines are available for use.

The goal of the bank is to consolidate all lines of embryonic stem cells available for use in federally funded studies into one place, reducing the cost of the cells while allowing researchers to learn more about their properties.