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Buck Institute stem-cell lab up and running

RESEARCH, TRAINING FACILITY ONE OF SIX IN CALIFORNIA; MAJOR NEW BUILDING NEXT

NOVATO – Post-doctorate fellows and graduate students converge today at the Buck Institute’s newest lab to begin learning how to culture embryonic stem cells.

The first session is the culmination of five months of frantic activity as the Buck scrambled to put a $4.7 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine into a shared research and training facility, one of only six such centers in the state.

The new 5,400-square-foot facility, built from a shell on the fourth floor of the main building, will be dedicated on Thursday. On Friday, the first regional stem-cell conference will be held there, according to Buck Vice President of Facilities Ralph O’Rear.

“We had to move a lot faster than the other grant recipients, who just set aside already existing lab space. One reason we were able to complete the build-out so quickly was the practice we got building out the Larry L. Hillblom Center last year,” he said.

Because the new laboratory will be growing and using embryonic stem-cell colonies rather than the colonies approved by the federal government, the facility must be separated from any laboratory that has received federal funding, including the Hillblom Center.

There is a sense of urgency on the part of CIRM to get its research and training facilities up and running. During two years of legislative wrangling, it lost top stem-cell researchers to foreign institutes and to research bodies in other states that are finding ways to surmount the current limitations on federally funded stem-cell research.

The Buck’s willingness to move quickly, and the fact that the hilltop site is already permitted for an eventual four-building campus, were factors in the young institute receiving CIRM grants.

Another factor was the Buck’s focus on the diseases and causes of aging. Stem-cell research shows great promise for the treatment of chronic conditions such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

“The research done at this facility is extraordinarily important to every family who faces these diseases,” said Bob Klein, chairman of the governing board of CIRM.

“All of the scientists and clinicians who chose our grant recipients were in agreement that the Buck Institute was a valuable grantee. They are one of the first shared learning labs and learning centers to be fully operational, and the facility is the first building block for the Buck to advance stem-cell research internationally.”

Buck faculty member Xianmin Zeng, Ph.D, will be program director for both the shared laboratory space and the training facility. Her research focuses on the potential use of stem-cell lines as a treatment for neurodegenerative conditions.

“I’m particularly gratified that CIRM designated the Buck as a training center for other scientists. The postgraduates and graduates who will attend our courses have the potential to make a huge impact on human health,” she said.

The 36-lab bench shared research

lab also shows great potential for collaborative science. It can accommodate 40 researchers.

Scientists from the California Pacific Center Research Institute, the University of California at Berkeley, the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, Dominican University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and other prestigious institutions have expressed interest in using it.

Following this week’s launch of the new research and training lab, the Buck will dive into its next project: a 65,709-square-foot building to house a CIRM Center of Excellence. CIRM has put $20.5 million toward the $41 million facility.