The SAGE Encyclopedia of Stem Cell Research. Группа авторов

      Australia

      Australia

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      Australia

      Australia has one of the most supportive stem cell research environments in the world, and researchers have made great strides in conducting innovative stem cell research and developing therapies for a host of diseases and conditions. In the early 1980s, Australian researchers were among the first in the world to use fertility drugs that led to live births. In 2001, the national government launched Backing Australia’s Ability, earmarking $3 billion for policy initiatives that included a new focus on stem cell research. In 2003, the government announced that it was investing $110 million over a 10-year period to establish Stem Cell Australia. That effort brought together experts from all of Australia to promote all aspects of stem cell research. In 2011, as funding for Stem Cell Australia reached the end of its cycle, the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia was created to raise funds to continue the work begun by the government initiative.

      While most Australians express support for using embryonic stem cells in research, the use of human embryonic cells remains controversial. In 2006, the government allotted an additional $22 million to establish the National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research at the Eskitis Institute for Cell and Molecular Therapies at Griffith University in Queensland, bypassing the ethics debate. Professor Alan Mackay-Sim, an internationally recognized neurobiologist and expert on differentiating nasal stem cells, was appointed to head the facility, which focuses on developing stem cell therapies for neurological diseases and injuries.

      In 2010, researchers were invited to apply for new competitive funding totaling $21 million. Local and regional stem cell organizations such as the NSW Stem Cell Network in New South Wales also contribute to the stem cell research community. Private and public foundations and biotech companies such as BresaGen Ltd, ES Cell International Pte Ltd, Norwood Abbey Ltd, and Stem Cell Sciences Pty Ltd are also engaged in various aspects of stem cell research.

      Background

      In the 1980s, Australian researchers began making significant discoveries in stem cell research. Teams that included Bik To and Chris Juttner of the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science and the Royal Adelaide Hospital and a team led by Don Metcalf at WEHI /Royal Melbourne Hospital demonstrated that hematopoietic stem cells have the ability to mobilize into peripheral blood. Alan Trounson was involved in the early stages of in vitro fertilization (IVF) research that led to the birth of the first in vitro fertilization babies born in Australia. Perry Bartlett identified renewable brain cells, and Nick Gough led his team to identify the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) that results in a pluripotent state in the stem cells of mice.

      Two of the most significant contributions to stem cell research were the findings of Alan Metcalf and his colleagues at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne involving the regulation of the immune system by growth factors and signaling pathways and the identification of the relationships between hematopoietic stem cells and their offspring. By 1998, researchers, including Alan Trounson and Martin Pera, were advocating the use of embryonic stem cells for developing treatments for disease and severe injuries. A consortium of Australian and Singaporean researchers created some of the first hES cell lines and established Embryonic Stem Cell International.

      In the early 21st century, following the mapping of the human genome, Australia joined other industrialized nations in accelerating the pace of stem cell research. Australia became one of the first countries in the world to develop a strategy for bringing local and regional governments and private industries into the emerging field. With the new focus on stem cell research, ethical debates heightened. In 2002, Parliament passed the Research Involving Human Embryos Act and the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act. Like the British system on which Australia is based, members of Parliament (MPs) are expected to vote strictly along party lines. However, MPs were allowed to vote according to conscience on the two stem cell laws. Together, the acts prohibited any form of human cloning and placed strict regulations on how excess human embryos were to be handled. Scientists were still allowed to conduct research on human embryos that had been created on or before April 15, 2002. With a three-year moratorium on cloning in place, Parliament stipulated that the laws would be revisited in three years to address new advances in stem cell research. Top researchers began pressuring the government to create a state-sponsored facility to conduct stem cell research.