Stem Cell Group Allowed To Grow

The five widely renowned scientists who tirelessly sorted through the applicants for Connecticut’s stem cell money last summer will be getting some relief.

A new state law allows the peer review committee, which grades the scientific merits of applications for stem cell grants, to grow to as many as 15 members.

Relief Needed

By all accounts, the original members are in need of some respite. Warren Wollschlager, chief of research & development for the state Department of Public Health, said DPH sought the change because volunteers had each put in close to 100 hours of their own time — taken away from their own work — to volunteer in support of the state.

“It was a burden on the scientists,” Wollschlager said.

He said having more peer reviewers would be a chance to diversify the specialties on the committee, which is increasingly important as researchers focus on specific diseases.

“I think it’s a good idea. It was an amazing volunteer response,” said Paul R. Pescatello, president and CEO of Connecticut United for Research Excellence, a statewide biotech trade group.

Cashless Society

What the reviewers won’t be getting is any financial reward for their help – which they are not all pleased about. Other grant-awarding organizations in the scientific community, including the National Institutes of Health, often provide a few hundred dollars in compensation as a mostly symbolic gesture, particularly when volunteers take time out to attend meetings.

Wollschlager said DPH looked into the idea of pushing for a law that would allow payments, but was concerned that compensating the stem cell peer review committee and not other volunteer groups, such as the Medical Examining Board and the Board of Examiners for Nursing, would be unfair.

“You might be setting a precedent,” Wollschlager said of paying the stem cell panel, even if it is NIH practice.

Pescatello wasn’t concerned about the issue so long as the state can continue to find volunteers.

“I think it’s fine that it’s gratis as long as we’re able to get volunteers to do it, which we seem to able to do,” he said.

Wollschlager estimated that the second request for proposals will go out early next month, which would give the advisory committee (which ultimately decides on grantees) close to six months to find new peer reviewers. Meanwhile, four members of the advisory committee are due to have their terms expire Sept. 30: Dr. Myron Genel of Yale Medical School, Cambridge, Mass. researcher Charles G. Jennings, Dr. Julius Landwirth of the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics and M. William Lensch of Children’s Hospital in Boston.

State Cooperation

While it looks for new volunteers for the peer review committee, DPH is also busy forming a coalition of states designed to speed progress of stem cell science by coordinating state efforts. Three New England states — Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island — will join together with six other states already funding or looking to fund stem cell science: California, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Wisconsin.

Wollschlager said the idea originated among state representatives who were meeting at StemCONN, an international stem cell conference that took place at the Connecticut Convention Center March 27 and 28.

He said he hoped the group would be able to agree on common definitions and uses of stem cell lines to encourage collaboration.

Pescatello said if states agree to share stem cell lines, it could prevent researchers from duplicating each other’s work, and thus move toward medical treatments more quickly.