New York Stem Cell Foundation
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The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) is a nonprofit organization founded in the Spring of 2005. The goal of the foundation is to further human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research through the private funding of laboratories and fellowships.
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[edit] Laboratory
In March 2006, NYSCF opened the first privately funded human embryonic stem cell laboratory in New York. The lab is meant to be a safe haven for scientists to conduct hESC research free of federal restrictions. To accommodate the growing number of stem cell projects, the lab doubled its size in January 2007.
Current lab projects include:
- A collaboration between Drs. Doug Melton and Kevin Eggan of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Drs. Robin Goland and Rudy Leibel of Columbia University’s Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center to create disease-specific stem cell lines for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes.
- Columbia University researcher Dr. Asa Abeliovich and colleagues, including NYSCF post-doctoral fellow Keiichi Inoue, are working to coax human embryonic stem cells into dopaminergic neurons lost in Parkinson’s Disease.
- A collaboration by Dr. Eggan working with researchers at the Columbia University Motor Neuron Center examining new ways to model the neuro-degenerative disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
- An array of NYSCF post-doctoral fellowship research projects, ranging from the creation of liver tissue from embryonic stem cells to bone tissue engineering for wound engraftment.
[edit] Medical Advisory Board
NYSCF's medical advisory board is a group of renowned scientists and doctors that guides the foundation in allocating funds to only the most promising areas of human ES cell research. The current Medical Advisory Board members are:
- Ali Brivanlou, PhD, Head of Laboratory of Molecular Embryology at Rockefeller University
- Kevin Eggan, PhD, Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University
- Gerald Fischbach, MD, Scientific Director of the Simons Foundation Autism Project, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia University
- John Gearhart, PhD, Director of the Stem Cell Program, Institute for Cell Engineering, at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
- Robin Goland, MD, Founder and co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center
- Lee Goldman, MD, MPH, Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University
- Antonio Gotto, Jr., MD, Suzanne and Stephen Weiss Dean of Weill Medical College of Cornell University
- Thomas Jessell, PhD, Investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor of Biochemistry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
- Gordon Keller, PhD, Director of the McEwan Center for Regenerative Medicine University Health Network, Toronto, Canada
- Ruth Lehmann, PhD, Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Director of the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Stem Cell Biology at NYU School of Medicine
- Rudolph Leibel, MD, Co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University, Head of Molecular Genetics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
- Dan Littman, MD, PhD, Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Professor of Molecular Immunology at the NYU School of Medicine
- Doug Melton, PhD, Co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute
- Mark Noble, PhD, Professor of Genetics at University of Rochester Medical Center, Co-director of the NY Center of Research Excellence in Spinal Cord Injury
- Paul Nurse, PhD, Nobel Laureate, President of Rockefeller University
- Herbert Pardes, MD, President and CEO of New York-Presbyterian Hospital
- Shahin Rafii, MD, Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Director of the Ansary Stem Cell Center for Regenerative Medicine at Weill Medical College
- Allen Spiegel, MD, Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
- Lorenz Studer, MD, Associate Member, Developmental Biology Program and Division of Neurosurgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Sally Temple, PhD, Professor of Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience at Albany Medical College
- Harold Varmus, MD, Nobel Laureate, President of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and former head of NIH under President Bill Clinton
[edit] Board of Directors
- Marilyn Breslow
- David Carmel
- Chuck Close
- Carol B. Einiger
- Janet Felleman
- Roy Geronemus, MD
- Paul Goldberger
- Richard Massey, PhD
- Steven Rattner
- Susan L. Solomon, JD
- Mary Elizabeth Bunzel
[edit] Leadership Council
- Allen Adler
- Robert Bookman
- Chuck Close
- Lewis and Dorothy Cullman
- Fiona Druckenmiller
- Richard Feigen
- Barbara Fleischman
- April Gornik
- Marlene Hess
- Richard Kaplan
- Evelyn Lauder
- Steven Rattner
- Jack Rudin
- Eve Chilton Weinstein
- John Whitehead
- Noelle and Dick Wolf
[edit] Public Outreach
In May of 2006, NYSCF hosted a panel at the 92nd Street Y in New York City titled "The State of Stem Cells". There, a panel of experts including Susan Solomon, the fundation's co-founder and CEO, discussed the facts and controversies surrounding stem cell research. In May of 2007, the NYSCF hosted its second annual panel, this time titled "Stem Cell Research - The Way Forward". The panel discussed the current effort to advance ES cell research, and featured opening remarks by Michael J. Fox.
In addition to its panel, NYSCF hosts an annual Translational Research Conference in New York where hundreds of doctors, scientists, and politicians gather to present their work in neurology, cardiology, diabetes, and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) as they relate to stem cell research.
[edit] Grants and Fellowships
In June 2006, NYSCF awarded 21 travel grants to enable young scientists to attend the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) in Toronto and in May 2007, it awarded 29 more, this time for the 2nd annual ISSCR in Australia. The foundation began awarding grants to senior scientists in 2007, and also awarded multiple post-doctoral fellowships - the first human ES cell post-doctoral research fellowships in the state.
