Netherlands

Stem cell research falls under the rather fragmented financial arrangements valid for all research. Financial resources for all research are made available through a wide range of research stimulation programmes administrated by the national research councils including the newly introduced and individualised Veni, Vidi, and Vici research renewer programmes for excellent young, post-doc and experienced researchers.

These national public funding research councils are the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and its partnering organisation, together with the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw). Research is also financed directly by universities from their own budgets in associative matching with the private sector, and through European Community programmes. A great handicap is that the EU provides little funding for embryonic research, and limits itself to projects from existing embryonic stem cell lines and those from unused embryos at fertility clinics with permission of the donors. As of April, the EU had financed only two projects for a total of Euros 600,000.

While acknowledging the numerous stem cell research projects running on different resource schemes and the difficulty of attributing costs to each of them, it is possible to single out some of the larger projects as follows:

• Dutch Programme for Tissue Engineering (DPTE) which aims to strengthen Dutch research in the field of tissue engineering, with a focus on the cultivation of organs and tissues from different cell material, including stem cells. Their focus is on tissue repair by stem cells (cell therapy), smart implants and in-vitro engineered products. The programme, introduced in November 2004, attracted 25 million Euros of subsidy from the Ministry of Education and Sciences to be supplemented by 25 million Euros from the universities and research institutes themselves in partnership with the private sector. The programme integrates the knowledge infrastructure of the research labs in all Dutch universities specialising in developmental, stem cell and molecular biology, together with several biotechnology companies to advance biomedical technology and applications in human health and disease. The dedicated stem cell component has been estimated by or informants at ZonMw at Euros 12,300.000.
• Stem Cells in Development and Disease (SCDD) Euros 4,000.000.
• Clinical Trial on Bone Marrow transplantation to a heart (from the Dutch Heart Foundation NHS) Euros 900.000.
• Dutch Eurostells Project. European Science Foundation (ESF) Project on the development of a Stem Cell Tool Box Programme to add to the knowledge of the basic features and properties of stem cells either from embryonic or somatic origins, (human as well as animal models) running 2005/2010: Euros 300,000.

A wide variety of academic institutes is involved in stem cell research in the Netherlands topped up by the Hubrecht Laboratory, also known as the Netherlands Institute for Developmental Biology (NIOB - KNAW) in Utrecht and the Groningen Stem Cell Cluster at the University of Groningen. The Mummery Group, headed by Professor Christine Mummery, in the Hubrecht Laboratory operates under the authority of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and developed the first Dutch embryonic stem cell line in 2004. The Mummery Group also succeeded as first in creating heart cells from human embryonic stem cells. The Mummery Group has strong links with ESI, Singapore. For its running budget the group receives Euros 150,000 from the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences and Euros 500,000 from the Dutch government's life sciences programme National Genomics Initiative. For much of its additional finance it depends on international contacts.
The Groningen Stem Cell Cluster (GSCC) is a collaboration between various clinical (Obstetrics, Neurosurgery, Pathology, Neurology, Cardiology) and preclinical (Cell Biology, Medical Physiology, Developmental Genetics, Medical Biology) groups within Groningen universitiy and research centres involved in research on the clinical applicability of stem cells to combat a wide variety of disorders such as neurological diseases (Parkinson, MS), cardiovascular disorders, diabetes and renal deficiencies. One of its current fields of study is the dopaminergic differentiation of bone marrow derived neural stem cells in the combat of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, but they also work in the field of cardiovascular disorders, diabetes and renal deficiencies.

In general, political interest in stem cell projects in the Netherlands is regrettably still fairly low and the government is not encouraging stem cells research. The country has an excellent research infrastructure and liberal laws, but despite this, policy makers need to become more articulate and hopefully more supportive in understanding and accepting the promises of stem cell research. Dutch society, however, seems to adopt a positive attitude towards stem cell research and therapeutic cloning. Somatic cell nuclear transfer is formally still not allowed, and only two centres i.e. Hubrecht Laboratory and Groningen GSCC are licensed to perform research on surplus embryos to obtain stem cell lines. The prohibition to create human embryos for research purposes may only be relieved in 2007. Nevertheless, there is considerable promise for a change in attitude due to the evaluation of the Embryo Act.

The Embryo Act, adopted in July 2002, which prohibits human reproductive cloning and strictly regulates research on embryos, is presently being evaluated by ZonMw, and restrictions on therapeutic cloning may be reduced if research involving embryos leads to the cure of serious diseases. The invitational conference "Cloning in Health Care: A New Way for Therapy," which the British Embassy in the Hague is organising with ZonMw and to which scientists and politicians from both the Netherlands and the UK have been invited, will constitute a useful additional tool towards the evaluation of the Embryo Act and will certainly play a role in the outcome of the evaluation research team to be presented to parliament in February 2006.

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