Governor wants to restore stem cell research money

MADISON – Gov. Jim Doyle says Wisconsin will help restore federal funding for embryonic stem cell research any way it can. Without it, researchers say Wisconsin has more to lose than most states.

Scientists say Wisconsin is especially hard-hit by a federal injunction barring government funding of embryonic stem cell research. That’s because private funding is limited and state funds are not as plentiful as they are in California.

Stephen Duncan, a stem cell researcher at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee says the loss of federal money could mean the loss of talent if the injunction persists.

“If I’ve got the choice of not doing my work or moving to somewhere that’s sunnier and not quite as cold, it’s really hard for me to justify in the long term, staying in an environment particularly in the Midwest, that cannot provide the extent of the support that places like California or perhaps Massachusetts do.”

On the UW-Madison campus, the Chancellor says two dozen researchers have embryonic stem cell funding in limbo. A private UW-Madison spinoff business called Stemina has $2-million in federal grants at stake.

Doyle says Wisconsin plans on filing a friend of the court brief (amicus) to help the federal government’s appeal. He says the real value of what Wisconsin has to offer by filing the brief is to demonstrate “just how disruptive this injunction is.”

In addition, Doyle is asking congress to restore federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

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