Alan Trounson: Connecting to the international community is good for Australia—there’s less inducement for Australian scientists to move. (May 22, 2009)

Elizabeth Finkel writing for ScienceInsider reports on a Victorian and Californian "stem cell alliance".

According to Dr Finkel: "At this week’s BIO 2009 Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, Victorian Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings announced four collaborative grants between Victorian and Californian teams. They are a subset of the 15 grants announced last week by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to expedite the translation of stem cell research into the clinic."

The agreement is for the state of Victoria to contribute US$5 million in support of the Australian Stem Cell Centre (ASCC) at Monash University, and the Florey Neuroscience Institute while California is putting in up to US$24 million through the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), who recruited Alan Trounson from Monash University to take up the presidency of CIRM in 2007.

According to Dr Finkel's report:

Three of the four projects receiving CIRM money capitalize on Victoria’s expertise at finding markers for differentiated stem cells versus cells that still have tumor-forming potential. A fourth capitalizes on a novel approach to retrain the immune system to accept foreign grafts.

The California-Australia collaborative projects are case studies in how to put together the components of the translational pipeline, say those involved. “Each step fits together like a jigsaw puzzle,” says Malcolm Horne, deputy director of the Florey Neuroscience Institutes. “Connecting to the international community is good for Australia—there’s less inducement for Australian scientists to move,” adds Trounson.

In addition to the CIRM-Australian collaboration agreements between CIRM and Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Japan are being negotiated, which can only augur well for the future of Australian stem-cell research.

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Elizabeth Finkel is a cofounder and contributing editor of Cosmos magazine. She holds a PhD in biochemistry and spent ten years as a research scientist before becoming a science journalist. In 2005 her book Stem Cells: Controversy at the frontiers of Science won a Queensland Premier’s Literary award.