Singapore Draws Stem Cell Researchers
Singapore "is emerging as a hotbed for stem cell research" and its "ambition of joining the ranks of Boston and the Bay Area as a biotech hub" has been helped by restrictive federal funding policies on embryonic stem cell research in the U.S., the New York Times reports.
Singapore has "some of the world's most liberal laws" on using stem cells, according to the Times. Meanwhile, restrictive U.S. policies "have prompted an increasing number of top scientists" to move to Singapore to conduct research, the Times reports.
For example, Edward Holmes, dean of the University of California-San Diego school of medicine, and his wife, Judith Swain, who was UCSD's dean of translation medicine, have accepted research positions in Singapore. Holmes will serves as an executive deputy chair at the Biomedical Research Council in Singapore, while Swain will become executive director of a new organization, the Institute for Clinical Sciences. Both will continue working part time at UCSD.
In addition, two of the "most prominent cancer researchers" in the U.S. -- Neal Copeland and Nancy Jenkins -- plan to arrive in Singapore next month to work at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology. The two researchers were considering conducting research at Stanford University, which could benefit from Proposition 71 funds, but legal challenges have prevented the money from being released. California voters approved Proposition 71 in 2004 to provide $3 billion for stem cell research (Arnold, New York Times, 8/17).