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1.: BACKSTAGE AT THE WORLD STEM CELL SUMMIT From: Stephen Meyer

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1.: BACKSTAGE AT THE WORLD STEM CELL SUMMIT

Posted by: "Stephen Meyer" Stephen276@comcast.net stephen_meyer_stemcells

Fri Sep 26, 2008 11:21 am (PDT)

BACKSTAGE AT THE WORLD STEM CELL SUMMIT

by Don C. Reed

Folks:

As anyone who has attended a Bernie Siegel stem cell extravaganza can
verify, attendees get more than they could hope for. This year's
World Stem Cell Summit was no exception. Every year I think, this is the
ultimate, can't get any better than this; but it does. Bernie has
put on events at the United Nations, Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, and
this year the American birthplace of embryonic stem cell research,
Madison, Wisconsin.—the Summit deserves its own book (and in fact
had one there, to which I contributed a story, "How to Pass a Stem
Cell Law") —but I just don't have the hours it deserves to
write a full description.

Here, then, are only a few impressions.

Dropping off my luggage at the Sheraton Hotel, (being a speaker, I got
my room paid for, otherwise I would be Motel Six-ing it as usual), I
hurried for the bus—

--to the Governor's mansion.

How classy is that?

On the drive over, I realized I had missed out on the Lab at the Lake, a
hands-on-easy-to-understand tour through stem cell realities. The
Summit's goal was something for everyone: the Lab at the Lake meant
folks had a chance to talk with world class scientists as well as
personally adjusting a high-power microscope to see stem cells for
themselves.

So, anyway, the Governor of Wisconsin had invited us to visit in his
official residence.

We walked through a replica of the Washington White House, polished
floors and high ceilings, all the way through to the back yard. There on
the lawn was a big no-walls tent.

After we had chatted with other attendees and picked at the barbequed
skewers of (I think) chicken and maybe tomatoes, Bernie introduced
Governor James Doyle, a very down-to-earth person. (The Italian driver
of the cab from the airport told me: "His-a heart in the right
place, Jim Doyle!") This is also a man of integrity. Despite
enormous pressure from the religious right to sign bills against
research, Wisconsin's leader used his veto power, not once, but
twice.

Governor Doyle welcomed us to Wisconsin, talked for a little while about
why he liked stem cells, and then we got back on the bus.

Six o'clock next morning, I asked how to get to the conference
building.

"Easy," they said, "Just across the street, you can't
miss it."

But as I crossed the street, all I could see was a dense gray fog bank,
like something out of Sherlock Holmes' London. This changed
everything. And as I fumbled through the mist, feeling increasingly
lost, it occurred to me how very similar our current political situation
this was.

Here we were, the country ready and anxious for massive stem cell
research funding, and we had instead a financial emergency of
unprecedented proportions…

But I stayed on the sidewalk, solid beneath my shoes—and suddenly, a
mass of concrete rose before me: the Alliant Energy Hall.

Quickly, the place was packed with nearly a thousand friends of stem
cell research. People like:

Alta Charo, bioethicist, a bubbling volcano of energy, intelligence, and
eloquence: listening to her is always a pleasure because she has so much
to say and says it so well. Occasionally, to be sure, I get about three
ideas behind the one she is on right now, because she talks so fast and
says so much, but I always walk away enriched.

Waiting for the shuttle, I had a chance to chat with another
bioethicist, David Magnus, of Stanford, who really knows his stuff on
the issues of Intellectual Property, and more.

Wise Young's beaming presence is always welcome; the man who (in
addition to his duties at Rutgers University, and endless advocacy for
research) also runs a massive patient-involvement website, CareCure.org.
Wise is working on human trials in China, spinal cord injuries, to be
treated with umbilical cord blood stem cells, and also lithium.

One shocking moment: onstage a person (I will not use his name) made a
statement which infuriated me. He said, we should stop using the word
"cure" when it came to spinal cord injury, and instead stick to
"treatment". The clear implication was there would never be a
cure.

Dr. Young corrected him, gently but with passion, pointing out nobody
suggested removing the word cure from the fight to cure cancer. (Hours
later, Wise was still upset about this.)

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine President Alan Trounson
gave an update on the CIRM's activities. Alan's great gift, I
think, is not only his scientific acumen, which is immense (he is
considered one of the inventors of the In Vitro Fertility procedure,
which allowed literally millions of childless families to have a baby)
but the ability he has to make friends for our cause. It is impossible
not to like him. He radiates good cheer. He said something I did not
understand, and hope to ask him about—he said, if I understood
correctly, that "the NIH may not be the best model as a funding
source".

Larry Goldstein gave a ten-minute hint on how stem cell research is
transforming health care. (I would have liked to see him do a keynote
address, as he has so much to say, and expresses it so well). He spoke
about nerves as rivers of information, and that science has "worn
out what we can do with animals", meaning, I took it, that it is
time to go to human trials, a position with which I heartily concur.
"Humans are not big mice", he said. He spoke about the
importance of embryonic stem cells not only as the source of replacement
cells for damaged parts of the body, but also as the
"neighborhood" around the cells, vital if the cells are to
function properly.

John Wagner I sat next to on the bus going somewhere, and I was
impressed by his passion, that it was time to press for cures for
patients, and for government to not set impossible standards which could
block progress.

Jamie Thomson gave a keynote address about reprogramming, his and Shinya
Yamanaka's new method of obtaining stem cells. I was glad to hear
him clearly state that this new procedure in no way eliminated the need
for embryonic stem cell research, and that both must proceed
concurrently. Dr. Thomson is of course brilliant beyond belief, but he
is a little hard to follow sometimes, because his voice volume varies
tremendously, sometimes almost inaudibly soft.

He was at his best at the press conference. I took the opportunity to
thank him, saying that when my paralyzed son rose and walked again, his
first step was taken right here.

Amy Comstock-Rick gave a very careful and non-political look at the
difference between the two Presidential candidates. (I wanted her to be
a little tougher on McCain, to discuss his co-signing a bill to
criminalize SCNT and put stem cell scientists in jail, not to mention
his position on the "personhood" issue, which conceivably could
destroy the whole field; but she stuck strictly to his stance on
embryonic stem cells.)

Clive Svendsen talked about Wisconsin's efforts and Hideyuki Okano
of Keio University did the same for Japan, both talks a little over my
head (I was glad for the shortness of science talks; I start to nod off
after too much incomprehensibility).

Breaks were welcome, not only for the necessaries, but also to (as
Bernie puts it) "work the halls", making friends while checking
out the exhibits and the scientists posters and the bioemedical
displays.

Jeff Sheehy spoke about the difficult subject of what happens if a
patient dies in clinical trials. This is huge—I am personally sick
and tired of people telling me we should not go forward until we can
guarantee safety—we cannot guarantee safety for any medical
procedure, even standard treatment.

So it meant a lot when he spoke about the people who died in the
HIV-AIDS trials— but that tragedy did not stop the research.

Peter Kiernan of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation gave a
rousing update on that great humanitarian effort. He also gave a very
intelligent list of "top ten" issues—getting politics out of
science, funding young scientists, pushing translational efforts,
increasing the global network, refocusing debate onto new disease
models, educating the press, embracing business, helping international
cell banking, developing and enforcing rigorous standards for ourselves,
and achieving a clinical breakthrough.

A breakout session discussed "Stem Cell Tourism", both bad and
good!

Mark Noble (outstanding writer as well as scientist) and I had the
chance to say hello in person, always one of the real joys of a good
convention.

Bob Klein dealt with the "We can't afford stem cell
research" issue, remind us that California passed a $6 billion
program in one of the worst years (financially) in our history. He
reminded us of Governor Schwarzenegger's great line that
"scientists are the real action heroes of the 21st century.

Mark Burton and Danny Heumann reminded us all of the crucial state of
Michigan, now trying to fight its way out of some of the most crippling
anti-research laws in the country.

Sabrina Cohen spoke about paralysis, making everyone hold motionlessly
still for sixty seconds, so we had a tiny idea of what it is like to be
paralyzed. Sabrina is trying to develop funds for a movie about the
real-life issues of stem cell research, and we wish her well. If anybody
has any ideas on funding sources, drop a line.

Hans Keirstead shared with us not only his progress, but also advice for
scientists—at his lab, three staff members have a fulltime job
cooperating with the FDA, whose approval is needed before human trials
can go forward.

Linda Powers of Toucan Industries, a venture capitalist firm
specializing in stem cell research, gave us a look inside the money
world.

Dr. Fanyi Zeng, proof that SCNT scientists can be movie star beautiful,
gave us the scoop on China's hopes for biomedical investment,
stating that by 2020, China hoped to have 2.5% of their Gross Domestic
Product invested in bio research.

Tommy Thompson told the story of how President Bush called him and Karl
Rove in, and ate a peanut butter sandwich while the two debated hESC
research, stating that this was the conversation which allowed the
President to leave a tiny window of research open, rather than banning
it altogether.

Greg Simon of Faster Cures had a political comment, saying
"Wwspd—What would Sarah Palin do"—and suggesting we do the
opposite.

Alta Charo spoke on the need for balance in human trials between safety
and the need to advance cures for suffering millions.

I had a chance to talk about legislative fights past and present,
mentioning that anyone wanting to help the California stem cell program
should FAX THE GOVERNOR, and tell him to VETO S.B. 1564. His fax number
is: 916-558-3160, and he will be deciding in the next few days, whether
or not to support a bill which would remove California's legal
preference for embryonic stem cell research, as well as attacking our
magnificent governing board, the ICOC, a 29-member panel of experts,
conceivably replacing them with bureaucrats. (Please FAX him today, if
possible.)

So much more!

And just to make it perfect, on the plane home I sat next to Graham
Creasey, who is working with Gary Steinberg—and my son Roman Reed--
to set up a spinal cord injury project at Stanford University.

Whew! What a glorious couple days!

And now, back to work!

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