The New York Stem Cell Foundation: Accelerating Cures Through Stem Cell Research

Abstract

Seven years ago, I was inspired by the enormous potential of stem cells to cure diabetes and many other devastating diseases. I saw that the promise of stem cell research stood in stark contrast to the negative federal political climate and the general lack of government support for stem cell research. Several leaders in the field, including Dr. Harold Varmus, Dr. DougMelton, andDr. Paul Nurse, were enthusiastic about this new area.With their encouragement and that of several others, I cofounded the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) in 2005 to use private philanthropy to stimulate stem cell research. NYSCF opened its privately funded stem cell laboratory inNewYork City inMarch 2006 and initially facilitated a collaboration between Columbia University and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Researchers at Harvard had the tools to attempt somatic cell nuclear transfer, but legal restrictions in Massachusettsmade it difficult to perform their research. Moreover, critical types of experiments could not be performed in federally funded laboratories at the universities, so researchers at these two institutions turned to theNYSCF laboratories to carry out this groundbreaking research. NYSCF became known as a laboratory where scientists could conduct cutting-edge human embryonic stem cell research free of federal restrictions. The NYSCF laboratory has become a full research institute and is 12 times as large as when it opened in 2006, employingmore than 40 full-time researchers. The mission of NYSCF is to accelerate cures for major diseases through collaborative stem cell research. We think that stem cells are the most promising medical opportunity of our time and see NYSCF as a critical catalyst for the best scientists in the world to perform the cutting-edge research to find cures and treatments for those we love. The urgency of our mission is particularly personal to me, as one of my sons has type 1 diabetes and I lost my mother and father to cancer and heart disease. Another aspect of NYSCF’s core mission is to expand the field of stem cell research itself. In addition to direct support of research, our Innovators Programprovides fellowships for postdoctoral researchers and for early career investigators. Each fall we convene what has become the preeminent annual translational stem cell research conference.We also conduct awide range of public programs. Because we are primarily privately supported, our ability to fund research and conduct our other programs is unaffected by the frustrating and debilitating cycles of off-again, on-again, offagain NIH support. However, most of our collaborators are not as lucky, and there is no satisfaction for us in continuing toworkwhen somany of our colleagues and collaborators cannot.