$tem cell ‘U’

University of Michigan Slaps Narrow-Minded Republican State Legislature

Tired of losing successful scientists and of listening to narrow-minded, phony religious conservatives in the state, the University of Michigan will do things its way.

You can be an ignorant republican all you want but when your ignorance get's in the way of scientific progress, you need to get your stupid asses the fuck out of the way!

Michigan is a solid Blue state. It needs to start acting like it.

"The University struck back against stringent state regulation of stem-cell research and the brain drain of top scientists in the field with yesterday’s announcement of the creation of the new Center for Stem Cell Biology, to be headed by researcher Sean Morrison.

In the face of growing competition from universities in states such as California, Wisconsin and New Jersey — all with their own stem-cell funding initiatives — the University has been attempting to keep its own star stem-cell researchers from being lured away. Researcher Michael Clark is relocating to Stanford.

The fact that the state of Michigan has some of the most restrictive laws governing stem-cell research has not helped. Current state law prohibits the derivation of new stem cell lines from frozen embryos slated to be discarded by in-vitro fertilization clinics or from a technique that places material from the nuclei of stem-cells into an egg cell to induce division.

“The legislative environment in Michigan restricts our ability to derive new (embryonic stem cell) lines,” Morrison said. “It’s a problem I hope we’ll change.”

With the departure of Clark for Stanford, Morrison himself had been approached with offers from several research universities across the country.

“Not to say that things here are perfect — it would be nice if the state laws were changed — but I looked at other (universities), and I didn’t find the same combination of advantages that we have here,” Morrison said.

Stem cells — which can be transformed into specialized cells such as neurons or bile-producing islet cells in the liver — have recently become the new cutting edge of biology research. The hope is that they can be used for therapeutic purposes — for instance, for growing replacement organs — or to help researchers learn about the development of diseases. The most malleable stem cells, however, are currently derived from embryos, a fact that has sparked a national ethical debate.

Several states, responding to federal reluctance to support stem-cell research, have come forward with their own initiatives to fund stem cell investigation. The University’s new Center for Stem Cell Biology is a part of this growing trend".