The largest single gift from an individual to the School of Medicine—$33 million from Lorry I. Lokey, ’49, founder of Business Wire—will be used to build a home for Stanford’s new Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Construction on the campus laboratories is scheduled to begin in 2009, with completion expected in 2011.
“This is an extraordinarily exciting time in science and medicine,” Philip Pizzo, dean of the School of Medicine, says. “Because of [Lokey’s] wonderful gift, we will be able to proceed with planning the space and facilities to house superb faculty and foster the process of basic discovery that ultimately leads to . . . [improving] the lives of patients suffering from cancer, neurodegenerative processes, heart failure, immune dysfunction and others.”
Lokey’s gift was announced in February, shortly after 12 Stanford faculty members landed $7 million in grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, an initiative approved by voters in 2004. In March, the School of Medicine was awarded another seven grants worth more than $17 million. The University has received more CIRM funding than any other single institution.
The February grants went to new scientists in embryonic stem cell research, and to veteran scientists launching embryonic stem-cell projects that could lead to new therapies for diseases of the heart, vascular system, nervous system and others. “We are, of course, absolutely thrilled and energized by this news,” Gregory Kovacs, professor of electrical engineering, said about the $634,287 grant his lab received. Kovacs plans to investigate the viability of stem-cell repair for heart muscle damaged by myocardial infarction or other disorders. “The hope in the community is that stem cells can be injected into the damaged tissue, and that [they] will grow into it and rejuvenate the heart.”
A therapy for Parkinson’s disease is the goal of Susan McConnell, professor of biological sciences, whose lab received a grant of $633,170. Their work includes transplanting new dopaminergic neurons—derived from embryonic stem cells—into patients to replace their dying neurons.
Tom Wandless, an assistant professor of chemical and systems biology, received $647,681 from CIRM. He says it’s recently been shown that the expression of four genes in connective tissue cells of mice effectively “reprograms” those cells to a pluripotent state (with the ability to become a number of kinds of cells) that is “just like” mouse embryonic stem cells. “We have developed a new technology that allows us to tunably regulate gene expression, so we will be attempting to ‘reprogram’ human fibroblasts to a pluripotent state,” Wandless says.
Other recipients in the February round of grants include professor of medicine John Cooke ($658,125); professor of pediatrics and of genetics Mark Kay ($640,642); associate professor of developmental biology Seung Kim ($656,074); assistant professor of medicine Calvin Kuo ($578,943); assistant professor of pediatrics Julien Sage ($520,777); professor of pediatrics Kenneth Weinberg ($658,057); assistant professor of medicine Joseph Wu ($658,123) assistant professor of chemical and systems biology Joanna Wysocka ($658,126); and assistant professor of medicine Philip Yang ($658,125).
Those granted about $2.5 million each in March include Irving Weissman, the Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research; Julie Baker, assistant professor of genetics; Stefan Heller, associate professor of otolaryngology; Theo Palmer, assistant professor of neurosurgery; embryologist Renee Rejo Pera, who is moving to Stanford from UCSF; Roel Nusse, professor of developmental biology; and Christopher Zarins, the Walter Clifford Chidester and Elsa Rooney Chidester Professor of Surgery.
