ICE forges a new path, fueled by an anonymous gift. In a beloved American poem, a solitary wanderer—torn when he stumbles upon branching paths in a yellow wood—ultimately chooses the one “having perhaps the better claim.” Robert Frost’s poem speaks to all who have confronted turning points in their lives and have ultimately chosen the road less traveled. The founding of the Institute for Cell Engineering represents one such choice. In the fall of 2000, an anonymous donor presented the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine with a generous gift and instructions to “do something different.” With $58.5 million at their disposal, the school’s leaders were suddenly in Frost’s yellow wood. They and the donor decided to walk together down a trail that was barely cleared, to pursue a mission that seemed almost quixotic—founding an institute dedicated to the development of stem cell therapies for a broad range of diseases. The ultimate goal was to learn to regenerate tissue, perhaps even entire organs, by unlocking the mechanisms through which stem cells transform themselves into every type of cell and tissue in the body. At the time, it was clear that this would be more than just a significant scientific challenge; ethical and policy issues would also have to be addressed. Then, shortly after the Institute for Cell Engineering was founded, an executive order decreed that only human embryonic stem cell lines created before 9 p.m. ET, Aug. 9, 2001, could be used in federally funded research. (Stem cells taken from adult bone marrow are not included in this ban.) Researchers pointed out that the edict would cripple stem cell research in the United States, to no avail. The devastating impact was slightly lessened when private donors began supporting research at ICE and other institutions. ICE’s need for donor support became even more acute when scientists learned that the so-called presidential lines created using mouse feeder cells carried mouse viruses that would prevent them from ever being used in human clinical trials. Fortunately, many generous people have confronted the branching path described by Frost and have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to advance stem cell research at ICE. Their vision and determination to walk the road less traveled have made possible the advances described in this newsletter. And that, as Frost said in his final line, “has made all the difference.” | | | | Stem cell biologists Nicolas Christoforou and Candace Kerr confer in an ICE laboratory, designed to promote research synergies. |
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