Share thisStem cell center to advance regenerative medicine, cancer research
Ross Tomlin
713-798-4712
htomlin@bcm.tmc.edu
HOUSTON -- (Dec. 2, 2005) -- The Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Center will expand stem cell research initiatives across a wide spectrum of disciplines, say the center's founders at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
The STaR Center focuses on three major areas of stem cell research: adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells, and cancer stem cells. While embryonic stem cells capture most of the public's attention, the potential benefits of cancer stem cells are just as promising.
"Cancer relapse is caused by a stem cell-like cell that is maintained even after treatment with chemotherapy and other agents," said Dr. Margaret Goodell, director of the STaR Center. "If we can find ways to target that cancer stem cell, then we might truly be able to eliminate cancer." 
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The new interdisciplinary center incorporates existing personnel and resources at BCM while merging expertise in basic and clinical sciences. Its creation has the potential to enable more collaboration with other institutions and give the college greater leverage recruiting new faculty members and attracting more postdoctoral scientists in stem cell research.
"It is important to bring together the existing research on stem cells at BCM in order to foster collaborations and interactions that will strengthen the work that we already do," said Goodell, also a member of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy as well as the departments of pediatrics, molecular and human genetics, and immunology. "We also want to recruit more people to work on stem cells at Baylor." Video comment
The center comprises roughly 30 members overall belonging to more than a dozen departments at BCM, including molecular and cell biology, pediatrics, medicine, OB/Gyn, and pathology. Goodell and her staff have worked with stem cell groups at Rice University, The University of Texas Health Science Center, and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in the past and expect to collaborate more in the future.
Goodell specializes in adult stem cells, specifically hematopoietic stem cells, which reside in bone marrow and give rise to new bloods cells over the course of a person's lifetime. Fellow founder Dr. Karen Hirschi, deputy director at STaR and a member of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, focuses on vascular development and regeneration. Video comment
Dr. Thomas Zwaka, the third founder as well as an assistant professor in the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy and department of molecular and cell biology at BCM, focuses on embryonic stem cells. Video comment
(Editor's note to media: For video and photographs of the center, its founders, or stem cells, contact Ross Tomlin at 713-798-7973 or htomlin@bcm.edu.)
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