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Columbia Receives $2.5 Million to
Support Stem Cell Initiatives
New York State Funding to Support Core Facilities, New Technology
 NEW YORK – (Monday, Jan. 7, 2008) It was announced today that Columbia
University will receive $2.5 million in funding support for stem cell
research from the Empire State Stem Cell Board, the agency Governor
Eliot Spitzer and the New York State Legislature created to manage the
$600 million allocated for stem cell research in this year’s state
budget. The awards were announced by the Governor and Lieutenant
Governor David A. Paterson.
The funding will support the close to seventy Columbia University
researchers who are actively involved in cutting-edge work with adult,
embryonic, and other forms of stem cells. Columbia researchers are using
advances in human biology and new stem cell technology to better
understand and treat disease such as diabetes, Parkinson’s and
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
The core facilities enabled by this initiative will provide a powerful
combination of technical resources that will facilitate new insights
into the molecular phenomena that drive stem cell self-renewal and
differentiation while also promoting the application of these insights
to develop practical therapies. Research efforts are aimed at the entire
spectrum of research from improving the understanding of the basic
biological mechanisms underlying stem cell differentiation to improving
tissue engineering for a variety of human health needs, and to helping
researchers understand why antidepressants tend to have a delayed onset
before efficacy is apparent in hopes of developing of better treatments.
Columbia University Medical Center in Washington Heights, researchers at
Columbia’s Morningside campus, and colleagues at the New York State
Psychiatric Institute will use this funding to support technologies
needed to work with these unique stem cell lines and to support resource
sharing and collaborations among laboratories working on related topics
and disease areas.
The supported core facilities include a neurogenesis core facility, an
ultradeep sequencing core facility that will allow for exploration of
the “molecular profile” of stem cells, a fluorescence-activated cell
sorter that will allow for purification of differentiated stem cells and
a stem cell functional imaging core facility, as well as a proteomics
shared resource center that will substantially advance the
mass-spectrometry-based proteomic tools.
“Nearly two years ago, prior to their successful election, Eliot Spitzer
and David Paterson came to Columbia University Medical Center to
announce their support for stem cell research and to unveil their plan
for promoting this work in New York,” said David Hirsh, Ph.D., Executive
Vice President for Research at Columbia University. “Today, we see the
initial results of that plan. I applaud Governor Spitzer, Lieutenant
Governor Patterson, Health Commissioner Richard Daines and the Empire
State Stem Cell Board for their effective and expeditious leadership on
promoting stem cell research in New York State and for moving forward on
the funds appropriated by the legislature.”
Hirsh said that this first Empire State Stem Cell Grant will help
biomedical research institutions like Columbia improve their stem cell
research infrastructure and enable them to create core facilities to
advance their ongoing investigations.
“The internal process of preparing the proposal served to catalyze
important strategic thinking about how to tackle and realize the promise
of this important research direction involving stem cells,” said Hirsh.
“Both this infrastructure and the multi-institution forum for discussion
it created will position the state’s universities to best use the
additional funds that will become available over the next ten years.”
“We look forward to working with the state and our colleagues at other
institutions across New York to realize the promise of the state’s
investment in stem cell research,” said Christopher Henderson, Professor
of Pathology, Neurology and Neuroscience at Columbia University Medical
Center and co-director of the Motor Neuron Center.
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Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, nurses, dentists, and public health professionals at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the Mailman School of Public Health, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. www.cumc.columbia.edu
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