Australia

The future of stem cell research in Australia is currently being reviewed as the legislation governing the research is due for renewal. The current legislation, which makes therapeutic cloning illegal, has been in force since 2002 and the review must be completed by 19 December 2005. It is expected that the review will call for therapeutic cloning to be allowed.

Research involving stem cells is managed largely by the Australian Stem Cell Centre (ASCC) based at Monash University in Melbourne. The ASCC has links with many universities around Australia and around the world as well as links with corporate partners. Earlier this year, the Bio21 Institute was opened at the University of Melbourne. Bio21 is the Australian research base for Cygenics Ltd who, through their subsidiary Cordlife Pty Ltd, have moved some of their research from the USA to Australia.

Australian stem cell research has a largely therapeutic focus including research into haematopoiesis; cardiac regeneration and respiratory disease. As therapeutic cloning is illegal, the main technology platforms used are embryonic stem cells (obtained from surplus IVF embryos), adult stem cells, tissue repair and immune modulation.

Funding for stem cell research is mainly from the Australian Government and state governments through various funding schemes with some coming from commercial partners.

The UK and Australia have a long history of scientific collaboration and stem cell research is one area that has been successful. However, there is increasing scope to attract Australian research to the UK and to set up international collaborations, both for research and commercial purposes.

Stem cell research is seen as a priority area for the Australian Government. The Government has identified four research priority areas, two of which involve stem cell research. These are: Research Priority 2 - Promoting and Maintaining Good Health; and Research Priority 3 - Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries.

Funding for stem cell research is given to the Australian Stem Cell Centre who in-turn hold funding rounds. The Australian Government and the State Government of Victoria provide the majority of funding for the ASCC while a small amount comes from the commercial affiliations the ASCC maintains. The Australian Government has several funding schemes including the Centres of Excellence and the Major National Research Facilities, both managed by the Australian Research Council who obtains it's funds from the Department of Education, Science and Training. The ASCC qualifies as both of these funding schemes.

In 2002 the ASCC was awarded $43.55 million under the Government's Backing Australia's Ability, Biotechnology Centre of Excellence Programme. To complement this funding, the State Government of Victoria's Science, Technology and Innovation programme awarded the ASCC with $10 million.

In 2004, the ASCC was awarded a further $55 million from the Government's Backing Australia's Ability II, to fund it's activities from 2006 to 2011.

The Australian Government also runs the Department of Education, Science and Training's Major National Research Facility programme which provided $5.5 million to the ASCC. To complement this funding, the State Government of Victoria's Science, Technology and Innovation programme awarded the ASCC a additional $1.375 million.

The ASCC also runs education programs at the undergraduate and post-graduate level, and a full-time education officer significantly increases the level of information broadly available about this rapidly developing field.

Although the central office of the ASCC is located in the Monash Science, Technology, Research and Innovation Precinct (STRIP), the Centre is partnering with eight organisations with complementary research capabilities. These include Monash University; University of Adelaide; University of NSW; University of Queensland; Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute; the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; and the Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine.

The ASCC's research strategy is to build integrated national research programs that draw upon complementary world-class skills to accelerate the delivery of stem cell technologies and therapeutic products. In order to do this the Centre has core expertise in the areas of embryonic stem cell technology and adult stem cell technology.

Through this expertise, the Centre hopes to gain a greater understanding of the basic biology of stem cells, their potential to turn into other cells and their interaction with the biological control systems in the human body. The Centre will build on this foundation of knowledge to generate broad technologies that have multiple applications.

Current research in Australia has a therapeutic focus with cardiac regeneration and haematology as the main areas. These areas were decided upon following research into the likelihood of success in these areas based on current Australian strengths, the IP environment, regulatory constraints, international competition, commercialisation and clinical need. These two areas are a direct extension from the ASCC's four research platform technologies: embryonic and adult stem cells, tissue repair and immune modulation. Other areas which may benefit from this research include: diabetes; neurodegenerative disorders and spinal cord injuries; diseases and injury of orthopaedic tissues; skin regeneration and respiratory disease.

Australia has an excellent reputation world wide for its quality research. However, due to its current legislation, it runs the risk of falling behind. This was clearly demonstrated during the UN debate earlier this year. Australia voted to ban cloning as all cloning is currently illegal in Australia. The current legislation review is expected to recommend that therapeutic cloning be allowed in Australia in order to stay at the cutting edge of research. Australia is likely to lose its researchers to the UK, Singapore and South Korea if it does not change its legislation.

Cygenics, based at Bio21 in Melbourne, have transferred their research into the use of adult stem cells from cord blood to boost blood cell production from Boston and Singapore to the new Melbourne facility. They have also transferred their research into stem cells taken from cancer patients from Boston to Melbourne.

Australia has excellent researchers, largely due to the strong links between research facilities and universities.

The Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 and the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002 were passed by the Australian Federal Parliament in December 2002. These Acts establish a strong regulatory framework to prohibit certain practices including human cloning, and to regulate uses of excess human embryos created though assisted reproductive technology (ART). The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has a licensing committee, responsible for granting licenses to those using ART - 9 licences have been granted to date.

On 5 April 2002, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed that the Commonwealth, States and Territories would introduce nationally consistent legislation to ban human cloning and other unacceptable practices and to regulate research involving excess ART embryos.

An Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) was developed through the COAG Implementation Working Group (CIWG) to facilitate the implementation and management of a nationally consistent legislative framework for the regulation of the use of excess ART embryos and the prohibition of human cloning and other practices regarded as unacceptable by COAG.

A review is currently underway of both the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 and the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002 by an independent panel. Panel participants are considering scientific, ethical and other issues. The review process will involve significant input from the various state and territory governments and they have also called for written submissions from any interested parties. The report must be handed to Parliament no later than 19 December 2005. The report will be considered in Parliament some time the following year. Although nothing states that Parliament must act upon the recommendations given by the review committee, it is expected that the laws will be changed to allow therapeutic cloning.

A recent report from Biotechnology Australia showed the ethical environment has shifted slightly since 2002. Support for stem cell research has risen from 52% to 65% in the past four years with 82% of people believing that stem cell technologies will improve our way of life. When questioned about the possible uses of stem cell technologies, prevention of breast cancer, heart disease and schizophrenia were seen as the most acceptable uses while increasing intelligence was an unacceptable use. When questioned about the concerns they had about stem cell research, the most common responses were 'playing god' (21%), 'potential abuse of the technology' (28%) and 'no concerns at all' (33%). Finally, when asked what they based their ethics on, 79% said 'health and safety', 49% 'morals/morality' and 22% 'religion/religious beliefs'. On the whole, the Australian public is in favour of stem cell research however their concerns cover a range of areas which need to be addressed. One of the biggest problems facing stem cell research and researchers in Australia is the lack of public communication. The Australian public are not told a great deal about stem cell research and this may have serious implications.

The UK has been a partner of choice for Australian scientists in all fields for many years. This is due to a lack of language and culture barriers as well as a sense of history between the two countries. More recently, Australian scientists see the UK as a launch pad to Europe.

There have been many UK/Australian stem cell collaborations. Most notable is Stem Cell Sciences UK, a subsidiary of the Australian Company, Stem Cell Science. SCS UK was established in 2002 and currently resides within the Institute of Stem Cell Research at Edinburgh University.

The UK is seen as having excellent research and researchers. The fact that therapeutic cloning is allowed is a draw card for many Australian researchers. Both countries have similar research priorities, realising the importance of this research and both fund stem cell research well which makes them ideal partners. The Australian Government is conscious of the fact that Australia is very isolated geographically and recognises the need for international collaboration. Many of the research grants they provide therefore include funding for international collaboration.

At this point, the differences in legislation mean that Australians are keen to travel to the UK to work on cloned stem cells. However, this may change as a result of the current review. Regardless of the outcome, the UK will remain a favoured destination.

Possibly the most effective method of attracting Australian researchers is to identify differences between the UK and Australian strengths. To this end, the British High Commission in Canberra is currently working with the Victorian Government, the Australian Stem Cell Centre, the East of England Stem Cell Network and the Imperial College to organise a series of stem cell workshops. These are being designed as small, highly focussed workshops, featuring the research strengths of the host country. The idea is to hold them annually, alternating host country, with a different theme each year. The focus will not only be on research but also commercialisation and funding mechanisms. It is believed that the scheme will create closer ties between the two countries in this area and will not only ensure researchers are kept up to date with other research but will also lead to further collaborations.

As with the UK, the biggest issue in Australia is industry funding. Although Government funding is currently funding basic research in this area, there is a need to engage more with commercial partners. This is a possible area for the UK and Australia to collaborate. Identifying possible commercial partners is understandably difficult and the British High Commission in Canberra has enlisted the help of the International Technology Promoter for Australia who has been helping to organise the stem cell workshops. It is hoped that by combining talks on research with talks on commercialisation and the involvement of potential commercial partners that these workshops will result in both research and commercial outcomes.

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copyright: © | last updated 24 November 2005