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JUNE 2004

Weill Cornell Begins New Stem Cell Center

Weill Cornell Medical College recently established the new Ansary Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics. which will bring together a premier team of scientists to focus on stem cells—the primitive, unspecialized cells with capacity to form all types of cells in the body.

The Center  is being created with a $15 million grant from Shahla and Hushang Ansary, prominent Houston philanthropists. Mr. Ansary is a Vice Chairman of Weill Cornell Medical College’s Board of Overseers.

“The Ansary Center will help lead the way into 21st century medicine in this extremely promising area,” said Dr. Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College. “Weill Cornell scientists and physicians are already world leaders in stem cell research, and Mr. Ansary’s generous gift will help spur the creativity and collaboration of our scientists, as well as help attract the best and brightest young researchers in the field.”

“We are witnessing the birth of a new field of research that has tremendous potential for relieving human suffering,” said Hushang Ansary. It’s an exciting time, and we believe this prestigious Center will have a significant impact in the field.”

Added Dr. David P. Hajjar, Executive Vice Dean for Research at Weill Cornell, “This Center will help position Weill Cornell at the vanguard of stem cell and developmental biology research in this country.”

Dr. Shahin Rafii, a noted authority in the field and the recently named Arthur Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell, will direct the new Center.

Stem cells are immature cells that can differentiate into all types of cells in the body, from heart-beat-generating cardiac cells to insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Embryonic stems cells form shortly after sperm and egg meet, and have enormous potential to develop into different types of cells. Adult stem cells—which can be found in umbilical cord blood, bone marrow, blood, and other parts of the body—have tremendous potential as well.

The Ansary Center will take a synergistic approach to stem cell research and bring together scientists from different areas of biomedical research to solve complex problems. They hope to discover the wellspring of adult stem cells in the body and ways to manipulate stem cells to treat human illness. In particular, the researchers hope to understand the regulation of cells that give rise to blood vessels, to insulin-producing cells in the pancreas (which are damaged in diabetics), and to neurons of the brain and nervous system.

The Ansary Center will also create a rigorous environment where scientists from various disciplines will collaborate on finding tissue-specific cell signals that help regulate and promote the survival of adult stem cells. This information could be used to find or design drugs that could boost stem cell growth or differentiation.

The Center will function in accordance with all Federal regulations regarding the use of adult, fetal, and embryonic stem cells.#

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