Stem cell institute OIRM cut by Doug Ford’s Conservatives had ties to McMaster University
At least 11 Hamilton researchers were affiliated with the institute and McMaster was a founding institution.
NEWS 09:10 PM by Joanna Frketich The Hamilton Spectator
https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9...er-university/
A stem cell research institute being cut by the provincial government is affiliated with at least 11 McMaster University scientists.
McMaster is also one of four founding institutions of the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine (OIRM), which turned stem cell discoveries into clinical trials and treatments.
"It's a tough one to swallow," said Mick Bhatia, one of the Hamilton OIRM researchers and director of the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute. "They didn't provide any information on why it was cut. ... It was very abrupt."
Bhatia was one of five researchers — led by Dr. Janet Rossant at the University of Toronto and SickKids Hospital — to create what would eventually become OIRM.
The original Ontario Initiative in Personalized Stem Cell Medicine launched in 2009 with $10 million in funding from the province, $10 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and $5 million from other partners.
....
In addition, the hope was that the initiative would attract companies to invest in the research.
"If they see good science going on at our universities and research institutes, they come and they set up shop," said Bhatia. "We had to provide a magnet for those industries to arrive in Ontario."
Over time, the successful initiative morphed into OIRM, which formed in 2014 out of a partnership between the Ontario Stem Cell Initiative and the Centre for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine.
"This was not just some entity left here by the Liberals ... it came from scientists," said Bhatia. "It was something that really was important."
In the past, Bhatia himself has received $250,000 in research funding from OIRM to develop new cell types that seek out tumour cells in the hopes of creating potential treatments that would help the immune system fight cancer.
The $5 million in annual provincial funding and the research it currently supports stops at the end of the fiscal year on March 31.
"It's one less agency for you to apply to," said Bhatia about how it will affect the McMaster researchers. "You're entering races and here's a race they don't have anymore. There's no question it's disappointing."
He also points out that OIRM did more than simply provide research grants.
"They hold symposiums, workshops and bring in international speakers," he said. "For me, that's the biggest blow; the networking opportunities and the international and national engagement is just gone."
The Conservatives did not wait for an external review of OIRM's efficacy and return on investment before cutting it, saying it's up to the private sector to pay for stem cell research.
"You put a lot of investment of time, money and people into launching something and before it even gets to its destination you shoot it down," said Bhatia. "Science is incremental. It takes time. But we were on track. Now the track is removed."
Prev
Linear Mode
