Andrea Viczian wants to cure blindness. In her lab at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Viczian is trying to find a way to change embryonic stem cells from mice into specific cells that are lost when a person loses his or her eyesight.
“There are only a couple of different cell types that are primarily lost in the eye when a person becomes blind. Most are photoreceptors — including the ones that cause macular regeneration. Nearly anyone who is over the age of 65 suffers from some kind of macular degeneration. That’s a big one.” (Andrea Viczian, researcher at SUNY Upstate Medical University)
Viczian is among the researchers on the cutting edge of science and at the forefront of a national and local political controversy. The issue of research involving stem cells derived from human embryos has been on the scientific and political stage for almost ten years. The science — and the politics — are ever changing and advancing on both national and local levels.
Many scientists consider the use of stem cells to cure disease to be the future of medicine. Stem cells are found in most animals and have the ability to divide and change into multiple different cells. The scientific research involves trying to change the stem cells into cells that are lost when a patient has a certain ailment or disease. Originally, these cells were taken from human embryos. But as of 2007, scientists have been able to divide and change adult skin cells.
Stem-cell research raises moral and ethical questions. Federal and state government policies regulate the kinds of research scientists can do in this field. In August 2001, for example, President George W. Bush limited federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research to only stem-cell lines that already were being used. That sharply limited limiting scientists from opening up new avenues of research.
Samuel Gorovitz is a professor of philosophy at Syracuse University and an internationally known medical ethicist. He sits on the ethics committee for the New York State Stem Cell Board that is set to allocate $600 million of state money through 2018 to support medical research. Gorovitz says the main ethical concerns, surround whether one believes that life begins at conception. He predicts that federal restrictions are likely to change after President-elect Barack Obama takes office on January 20.
“Federal policies are, right now, quite constraining. But that will change in the new administration. Once the regulations are relaxed, which they almost surely will with Obama in office, I think that scientists will gain access to funding so they can test all new types of cells.” (Professor Samuel Gorovitz)
At the state level, there are other barriers to funding for stem-cell research. New York state has one of the highest budgets for funding stem-cell research in the U.S. The New York State Stem Cell Board was created in 2007 by the state legislature.
Gorovitz, the board member, explains:
“Most people start out thinking that the only issue has to do with the state of the embryo, because that’s where the federal restrictions come in. But there all kinds of issues that don’t have anything to do with that.” (Prof. Samuel Gorovitz)
First there is the issue of social inequalities.
“We live in a society, especially in this state, where there is an ever-growing disparity between the rich and the poor. Should this science only be available to people as a function of their affluence?” (Prof. Samuel Gorovitz)
He also says that if the research grows, some kinds will need adult cells and some will need unfertilized eggs. But both are scarce resources. There is no incentive offered for people to donate their own cells or eggs to research.
“The idea is to provide the resources and infrastructure to make New York a competitive player in stem-cell research.” (Professor Samuel Gorovitz)
New York state has approximately 1,000 scientists, trainees, and support staff currently employed in academic and private laboratories conducting stem-cell research. Gorovitz says this number will almost surely grow. With more scientists taking part on the effort the options for curing disease will grow as well.
For right now, Andrea Viczian of Upstate Medical University is focusing on curing blindness. But she and other scientists in New York state have big plans. She says the next movement in research will be with adult cells, called pluripotent cells, that may be able to cure a multitude of genetic diseases.
“This opens up a whole new line of research where we can try to find cell types to match those lost in many diseases.” (Andrea Viczian)
Reporting for Democracywise, Stacy Lange
(Stacy Lange is a junior in broadcast journalism.)
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