Overview

The University of Michigan is a long-time leader in the study of adult stem cells. But until Michigan voters approved a state constitutional amendment in November 2008, restrictive state laws severely limited the types of embryonic stem cell research allowed in the state.

In response to the passage of Proposal 2 in November 2008, U-M is bolstering its embryonic stem cell research effort. New research initiatives and collaborations are in the works, new faculty members are being hired, and the university is now positioned to compete for any new federal funds that become available for embryonic stem cell research. The goal is to place U-M at the forefront in all aspects of stem cell research.

A major step toward that goal was announced March 9, 2009, with the launch of a U-M-led consortium that will create new embryonic stem cell lines to aid the search for disease treatments and cures. The A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute Consortium for Stem Cell Therapies will be based at the Medical School, and researchers from across campus — including scientists at the Life Sciences Institute, the College of Engineering, the Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology — will participate.

In addition, collaborations are in the works between the new consortium and U-M’s University Research Corridor partners, Michigan State University and Wayne State University. Collaborations are also being negotiated with Oakland University, U-M Dearborn and Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

The new consortium will supersede the U-M’s Michigan Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research, which was established in 2002 with funding from the Medical School’s Endowment for the Basic Sciences.

The center became one of the nation’s first three “core facilities” for human embryonic stem cell research in 2003, when the National Institutes of Health awarded a $3 million grant. The new Consortium for Stem Cell Therapies will continue to offer many of the core services provided by its predecessor. The consortium will be a cell-line repository, and its staff members will train other scientists to work with the lines.

Adult and embryonic stem cell research is also underway at the U-M Center for Stem Cell Biology, located at the Life Sciences Institute.

The Center for Stem Cell Biology was established in 2005 with $10.5 million provided by the U-M Medical School, the Life Sciences Institute, and the Molecular and Behavioral Neurosciences Institute. The center’s main goal is to determine the fundamental mechanisms that regulate stem cell function. That knowledge, in turn, provides new insights into the origins of disease and suggests new approaches to disease treatment. Most of the work involves adult stem cells — including blood-forming and nervous system stem cells — but human embryonic stem cells also are studied.

Stem cell research is also underway at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the few places in North America that has made an institutional commitment to cancer stem cell research. Cancer stem cells are responsible for triggering the uncontrolled cell growth that leads to malignant tumors.

U-M researchers were the first to identify stem cells in solid tumors, finding them in breast cancer in 2003. They were also the first to find pancreatic and head-and-neck stem cells. At the U-M cancer center, scientists are investigating how these cells mutate, causing unregulated growth that ultimately leads to cancer.