Connecticut Stem Cell Committee

Completes Application Review

HARTFORD — The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) announced this week that the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Peer Review Committee has completed its review of applications for funding in support of stem cell research. Seventy applications were received in response to the Connecticut Stem Cell Advisory Committee’s Request for Proposals for stem cell research issued on May 10. Applications were made available to the peer review committee on August 4.

The Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet on November 20 and 21 to complete the review process and to make final decisions with respect to the awarding of grants-in-aid after considering recommendations from the Stem Cell Research Peer Review Committee.

In accordance with state statute, the Peer Review Committee consists of five members with practical research experience in human adult or embryonic stem cell research. The Peer Review Committee reviewed all applications submitted by eligible institutions for grants-in-aid in accordance with National Institutes of Health guidelines and provided recommendations to the Commissioner of Public Health and the Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee with respect to the scientific merit of each application. All applications reviewed were deemed to meet acceptable ethical standards.

Any nonprofit, tax-exempt academic institution of higher education, any hospital that conducts biomedical research, or any entity that conducts biomedical research or embryonic or human adult stem cell research was eligible to apply for grants from the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Fund.

Proposals were accepted for any form of stem cell research, but priority was indicated for human embryonic stem cell research that is not currently eligible for federal funding. Other types of stem cell research were also eligible, with priority given to human studies with clear potential relevance to human health. Animal models were not excluded from consideration but applicants were requested to demonstrate a direct relevance to human stem cell biology and its therapeutic implications.

Governor M. Jodi Rell signed An Act Permitting Stem Cell Research and Banning the Cloning of Human Beings on June 15, 2005. Passage of this legislation positioned Connecticut as just the third state in the nation in providing public funding in support of embryonic and human adult stem cell research.

The law establishes a ban on human cloning and sets guidelines for the way embryos, embryonic stem cells, unfertilized eggs, and sperm are donated. The research fund was started with $20 million from the fiscal 2005 budget year surplus, to be used in fiscal years 2006 and 2007, and will be supplemented with $10 million a year from the Tobacco Settlement Fund in fiscal years 2008 to 2015.

The Act mandated the establishment of the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory and Peer Review Committees by October 1, 2005.