University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers University have come together to propose a new organization called the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey. If funding passes for the institute, this statewide initiative would build a research building dedicated to the study of stem cells, with over 400 million dollars from the state to do so.
Stem cells are cells in the body that can transform into many different cell types that produce muscles, nerves, blood cells and other tissues that have the ability to renew themselves.
Research of stem cells would include their ability to correct dysfunctions and diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, leukemia and other forms of cancer. By researching stem cells and these diseases, scientists can determine how to control the transformation of stem cells into the specialized cells a patient needs for his or her disease.
Joseph J. Seneca, a professor of economics at the University, said stem cell research would provide a number of social, economical and public health benefits to the state. Benefits include reducing health care costs by $11.3 billion from 2016 to 2025, Seneca said.
Other benefits include the potential for a healthier workforce, a better quality of life for those with incurable diseases and education opportunities for researchers and scientists to help a larger number of people.
In the absence of stem cell research and therapies, Seneca estimates that 75,000 residents in New Jersey will die from diseases where stem cells could possibly help.
Vice President of Health Science Partnerships Kenneth Breslauer said the Stem Cell Initiative has gotten a positive response from New Jersey taxpayers.
"Result surveys have shown overwhelming support of the initiative," Breslauer said. "There is a biomedical hope in the public that this avenue of research will unlock ways of curing incurable disorders."
While Breslauer said there is a fundamental support of the initiative, voters have a difference of opinion when it comes to what cell lines to include in the research and where to draw the line.
In terms of funding, Breslauer said that the institute has already been granted $150 million to build the building and house it with appropriate equipment. The next step is for voters to vote on the funding ballot, which would give the initiative $450 million over a period of 10 years. This means that if the ballot passes, the initiative would receive $45 million per year to help with costs.
"Everything has been approved with the legislative side of business. Now the initiative just needs voter approval on referendum for bond money," Breslauer said. "This money would go towards budgeting operating costs."
As far as concern with the new institute hampering academic developments throughout the University, Breslauer said the initiative will not hurt other departments at the University.
"The money for the initiative is new money that would not be available to the academic units of the University," Breslauer said. "It is solely for the purpose of the initiative and stem cell research."
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