For some leading stem cell scientists, the jockeying among states is both heartening and disturbing.
"It makes sense that states will respond to try to make up for the federal government's deficiencies," said Doug Melton, a Harvard University biology professor and a strong critic of the Bush policy restrictions.
"I think the California initiative is very important both politically and scientifically," he added, "but in the best of all possible worlds it shouldn't have had to happen."
Dr. Wise Young, who heads the department of cell biology and neuroscience at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said he thinks California's investment will expand the field of scientists pursuing stem cell work.
"There are three ways that more researchers can be added to the field," said Young, co-chairman of New Jersey's recently created Institute for Stem Cell Research. "The first is to recruit scientists working in other areas to stem cell research. The second is to attract such scientists from overseas. The third is to grow such investigators from students and postdoctoral fellows."
For now, Young said, the additional funds may create a temporary shortage of stem cell scientists and make it harder for institutions outside California to retain researchers.
"Because recruitment offers will be made to stem cell scientists by California institutions, there will be tremendous pressure on research institutions to provide [enticements] to keep people," Young said. "This will probably mean millions of dollars of salary increases or promotions, and research support, to match the offers that are made."
Aside from the potential financial boon for scientists, those funded through the California initiative probably would be able to avoid many of the issues facing researchers who get at least some of their funding through the federal government. Melton, for example, operates his lab under a dual system in which equipment bought with federal grants is marked so that it is not used for work on embryonic stem cells that are not on the federally approved list. Not having to worry about such things would be a relief, he said.
"I don't like the situation where myself and my students are planning our next experiment and thinking about the political election results," he said. At the same time, Melton said, he thought funding at a state level, even at billions of dollars, was only a partial solution.
"It doesn't do a huge amount of good to be reshuffling people," said Melton, who is using embryonic stem cells to try to understand and cure juvenile diabetes, a disease that requires his two children to take daily shots of insulin. He has not had any offers from California, but he said he was concerned about the energy wasted by anyone having to start up operations in a new location.
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With little indication that the Bush administration will significantly revise its restrictions, those outside the state concede that California's billions will put the state in a leading role in embryonic stem cell research.
