As pioneers in human embryonic stem cell research, Hadassah Medical Center scientists have high hopes of achieving medical advances in the future.
“We started our work in the area of human embryonic stem cells way back in 1998,” said Dr. Benjamin Reubinoff, director of the Hadassah Human Embryonic Stem-Cell Research Center at the Goldyne Savad Institute of Gene Therapy and Department of Gynecology at Hadassah University Medical Center.
The stem-cell center opened in 2003. “The idea was to establish the human embryonic stem-cell center as an institutional center that would serve as a core for collaboration between scientists in many departments,” Reubinoff said.
Working collaboratively with researchers at the National University of Singapore and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, Hadassah researchers were “the second in the world to derive embryonic stem cells from human embryos,” he said.
Now, “we are trying to derive a new human embryonic stem cell that will be eligible for clinical trials, because most worldwide are not suitable since they are derived by using animal products.”
While it is generally known that embryonic stem cell research could lead to advances in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, Reubinoff named others that could possibly benefit as well: diabetes, multiple sclerosis and retinal degeneration, to name a few.
Hadassah researchers are also working on its use in gene therapy and manipulation of cells, and in the field of transplantation. Whenever someone undergoes a transplant of an organ from another human being, there is the risk of rejection.
“We are interested in the problem of immune rejection,” he said. “And it’s possible that following transplantation, transplanted progeny will produce an immune-rejection phenomenon in the host. So, we are interested in characterizing whether, indeed, these cells will provoke an immune response in the host, and to try to learn this response and see whether we can control it in any way. We are also interested in studying the potential immune rejection that may be provoked or may not be by transplantation of these cells.”
Israel has proven to be a very supportive environment for stem-cell research, without the sort of controversy that has come to surround it in the United States.
“According to Judaism, the embryo is not considered a human being until it is 40 days old, and only if it is within the mother’s womb,” said Reubinoff. “The embryos that are used for the derivation of stem cells are only five to six days old and they are not from the womb. Orthodox Jews don’t have an ethical problem with this kind of research and they see the great potential in it.”