- New York Stem Cell Foundation
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The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF)[1] is a nonprofit organization founded in the Spring of 2005. NYSCF is dedicated to accelerating cures for the major diseases of our time through stem cell research. NYSCF opened the first privately funded stem cell laboratory in New York City, where NYSCF researchers and collaborating scientists conduct advanced stem cell research free of federal restrictions. The organization supports scientists engaged in stem cell research through the NYSCF Fellowship Program, its annual translational stem cell research conference and other symposia. NYSCF runs collaborative, state-of-the-art research facilities directly focused on curing disease and educates the public about the importance and potential benefits of stem cell research.
The foundation focuses on four areas:
- NYSCF Research - Supporting and enabling the unrestricted pursuit of the most advanced stem cell research, both in the NYSCF laboratory and through collaborations with major medical research institutions.
- NYSCF Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and Investigator Awards - Supporting and training the next generation of scientists, both at the postdoctoral level as Fellows, and as Early Career Investigators pursuing innovative translational stem cell research in their own laboratories.
- NYSCF Conference and Symposia - Convening the preeminent annual translational stem cell research conference and an on-going series of programs for scientists, policymakers and the public.
- NYSCF - Robertson Prize - Honoring the most significant achievement in stem cell research each year by a scientist under the age of 40.
Susan L. Solomon is the CEO and Kevin Eggan serves as the Chief Scientific Officer.
Contents
Recent Announcements
The NYSCF-Golub Stem Cell Initiative for Parkinson's Disease
On June 22, 2011, NYSCF received a half-million dollar gift from the Golub family to launch the NYSCF-Golub Stem Cell Initiative for Parkinson’s Disease. The initiative permits researchers in the NYSCF Laboratory to use a novel approach to understand Parkinson’s disease that includes the creation of stem cell lines from a genetically diverse population of Parkinson’s patients. The initiative was articled in the Wall Street Journal[2].
The NYSCF-Robertson Investigators
On May 14, 2010, NYSCF announced the receipt of a $27 million grant from the Robertson Foundation, established by Julian and Josie Robertson. The Robertson Foundation gift, in addition to other support, will provide funding for NYSCF-Robertson Investigators in NYSCF's new Early Career Investigator Awards Program and the creation of the NYSCF- Robertson Stem Cell Prize.
This award program, for outstanding early career investigators from the US and around the world, builds on the highly successful NYSCF Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. It will provide young stem cell scientists, who often have difficulty obtaining traditional support for their work, with critical seed funding at the crucial next stage of their career as they launch their independent laboratories.
On June 14, 2011, in its ongoing efforts to cultivate the next generation of innovative scientific researchers, NYSCF announced details and the RFA for the new NYSCF – Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Awards. The new NYSCF Neuroscience Investigator Program is designed to foster truly innovative and excellent neuroscience with the potential to transform our fundamental understanding of the brain and how it functions. NYSCF – Robertson Neuroscience Investigators will work on a broad spectrum of developmental, cellular, cognitive and behavioral neuroscience (which need not be related to stem cells). At least nine NYSCF – Robertson Investigators will receive awards in the first three years.
NYSCF Investigator named in Time Magazine's People Who Mattered
On December 20, 2010, Derrick Rossi, PhD, a member of the inaugural class of NYSCF- Robertson Investigators, was named one of Time Magazine’s 2010 “People Who Mattered” in the December 27, 2010 Person of the Year Issue[3]. Dr. Rossi, an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, was lauded for his discovery of an innovative method for reprogramming skin cells back into stem cells – pluripotent stem (iPS) cells – that uses messenger molecules, instead of viruses, to eliminate risks, such as cancer, posed by previous methods.
Collaboration with Johns Hopkins University Medical School
On April 27, 2010, NYSCF and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine established a collaborative program to advance the development and use of stem cells in therapies for a wide range of diseases. The program will train researchers to use stem cells and foster joint research projects. The collaborative program will encompass training for Johns Hopkins researchers in the NYSCF laboratory in Manhattan, specific research collaborations and a NYSCF fellowship to support Johns Hopkins in its plans to bridge disciplines, technologies and facilitate cross-collaborations among Johns Hopkins investigators and the greater stem cell research community.
Collaborations will include:
- Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Workshops to provide training in state-of-the-art stem cell technologies for John Hopkins students, fellows and faculty at the NYSCF laboratory, one of the few places in the nation offering comprehensive expertise in stem cell derivation and maintenance. The workshops permit Johns Hopkins investigators and NYSCF’s Research Team, including its Fellows and other research partners, to discuss their work and explore collaborative opportunities. The first three-day workshop took place in February at the NYSCF laboratory in New York.
- Production of Standardized and Quality-Controlled Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines by NYSCF staff for use in Parkinson’s disease and other disorders. Johns Hopkins researchers will provide research samples, and the NYSCF stem cell derivation team will grow more cells for them, as well as reprogram, characterize and maintain quality control of the cells. The cell lines created will be banked in the NYSCF repository and eventually will serve as a resource for other researchers.
- NYSCF Fellowship Award for a Johns Hopkins Investigator. The New York Stem Cell Foundation, which operates the largest program of post-doctoral fellowships in stem cell research in the United States, will support a fellow at Johns Hopkins whose work will enhance and strengthen the university’s effort to bridge disciplines, technologies and facilitate cross- collaborations among Johns Hopkins investigators and the greater stem-cell research community.
Laboratory
In March 2006, NYSCF opened the first privately funded human embryonic stem cell (hESC) laboratory in New York. The lab was meant to be a safe haven for scientists to conduct hESC research free of federal restrictions.
The NYSCF Laboratory is one of the few places in the world with the technologies to create hESCs, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), and cells by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). NYSCF’s creation of a genetically diverse array of disease-specific stem cell lines allow researchers to model human diseases and screen for possible drug compounds that could be used to slow or prevent further progression.
NYSCF has since begun several research projects within the laboratory including research on Alzheimer's Disease, diabetes, Parkinson's Disease, neurodegenerative diseases, as well as others.
Public Outreach
On April 7, 2011, NYSCF held its sixth annual spring public outreach panel at The TimesCenter in New York on how stem cell science can accelerate the search for a cure for Parkinson’s disease. The panel was be moderated by Michael Kinsley, co-founder of Slate, former editor of The New Republic and Parkinson’s patient and advocate. Panelists included:
- Robin Elliot, Director of the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation
- Dr. Melissa Nirenberg, Associate Director, Parkinson’s Disease & Movement Disorders Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College
- Dr. Lorenz Studer, Director of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Center for Stem Cell Biology and Professor of Developmental Biology and Department of Neurosurgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
- Dr. Kevin Eggan, NYSCF Chief Scientific Officer and Associate Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at The Harvard Stem Cell Institute
- Susan L. Solomon, NYSCF CEO
In addition the panel, NYSCF hosts an annual Translational Research Conference in New York where hundreds of doctors, scientists, and politicians gather to present their stem cell research in neurology, cardiology, diabetes, reprogramming, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), and other topics.In October 2011, more than 400 attendees from all over the world will participate in NYSCF’s Sixth Annual Translational Stem Cell Research Conference at The Rockefeller University.
The conference’s topics are arranged by disease area, with separate symposia addressing the realization of cures as well as policy issues relating to stem cell research, respectively entitled Road to the Clinic and The Future of Regenerative Medicine.
Kicking off the conference, NYSCF’s Sixth Annual Gala and Science Fair will be held on Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at The Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home Of Jazz At Lincoln Center. This year’s gala honors Julian H. Robertson, Jr. and the artist Christo, and is co-chaired by Chuck Close, Fiona and Stan Druckenmiller, Dorothy Lichtenstein, and Dick and Noelle Wolf.
Grants and Fellowships
NYSCF funds post-doctoral fellowships to researchers at institutions such as Columbia University, Rockefeller University, Mount Sinai, Harvard, Johns Hopkins University, and many more. To date, NYSCF has funded approximately 32 postdoctoral fellowships.
NYSCF initiated an Early Career Award Investigator Award Program in 2010. This program is for scientists who have completed their postdoctoral training to begin their own labs.
As well as research being conducted in the NYSCF laboratory, NYSCF funds senior scientists from various institutions across the world. Past projects include the work of NYSCF Chief Scientific Officer, Kevin Eggan, of Harvard University, in which he created a model of Lou Gehrig's Disease in a petri dish using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). This work was named the number one medical breakthrough of 2008 by Time[4] and Science[5] magazines.
See also
McEwan Center for Regenerative Medicine
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
University of Rochester Medical Center
Leiden University Medical Center
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
References
- Time Person Of The Year 2010 - People Who Mattered
- Couple Aids Parkinson's Research
- Time Medical Breakthrough - First Neurons created from ALS Patients
- Science Breakthrough of the Year - Reprogramming Cells
External links
Categories:- Non-profit organizations based in New York
- Stem cells
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