Gov. Jim Doyle is proposing a $2.5 million increase in funding for biomedical research at five Milwaukee area schools, including Marquette. The plan was announced last week.

Research is currently taking place on two major projects led by Marquette faculty.,”Gov. Jim Doyle is proposing a $2.5 million increase in funding for biomedical research at five Milwaukee area schools, including Marquette. The plan was announced last week.

Research is currently taking place on two major projects led by Marquette faculty.

The $2.5 million proposal would be part of Doyle's 2007-'09 budget if he is reelected next month. The budget would have to be approved as a whole by the Legislature.

Funding of the Marquette-led projects has totaled $650,000, according to Bill Wiener, vice provost for research. The research was funded as part of Doyle's 2005-'07 budget.

Assistant Biomedical Sciences Professor David Baker's team of scientists received $250,000 to conduct research on a process in the brain that might underlie schizophrenia.

A team led by Daniel Sem, assistant professor of chemistry, conducted two screening tests using chemistry reagents developed in his lab in the investigation of oxidative stress and drug targets.

In 2005, Marquette joined the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee School of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and University of Wisconsin-Parkside in the Biomedical Technology Alliance when funding for biomedical research became available.

In addition, Marquette has partnered with these schools in other research projects. Marquette is involved in seven of the 11 BTA projects announced since 2005.

The state gave the BTA $500,000 in March 2005 for biomedical research. The universities collectively matched that amount, making the total $1 million.

Doyle's initial intention was to give the BTA $2.5 million, but he removed $2 million from the proposal because he said it took away funding from other programs. Now Doyle wants to fund the BTA with the original proposed amount. The institutions of the BTA would subsequently match the state's grant, for a total of $5 million.

"The important thing to note about the line-item veto is that the proposal stole the funding from other important sources," said Matt Canter, a Doyle spokesman.

Canter said the money took away from funding entrepreneurial offices around the state that help small businesses.

"Governor Doyle is not going to support raiding those funds," he said.

Other legislators, however, argue Doyle should have stuck with the original amount.

"The BTA should be funded. The governor vetoed the funding," said State Sen. Ted Kanavas, R-Brookfield, a supporter of the BTA.

Kanavas failed to get a BTA funding bill of his own through the Legislature earlier this year.

In February, legislators rejected Doyle's proposal to fund the BTA by including a provision that said research could not include embryonic stem cells.

Doyle is pushing the embryonic stem cell debate back into the forefront by reintroducing the February legislation. With just over a month left until the election, the controversial embryonic stem cell research issue is sparking debate on both sides.

"The BTA needs to conform with all federal and state laws," Kanavas said. "The BTA is intended for a variety of technologies. … It's important to move research beyond embryonic stem cells."

Canter said Kanavas is appealing to "the most extreme factions of the Republican Party."

"Sen. Kanavas is the one who is turning this into a political issue. He and other politicians are trying to dictate from the Legislature where the research goes," Canter said.

"Gov. Doyle's position is 'let the research decide where the research goes.' (The researchers) follow the most stringent code of ethics in their research. It's a great insult to suggest otherwise."

Kanavas said the governor needs to move beyond focusing on embryonic stem cell research.

"The governor has got to get out of his ivory tower," Kanavas said.

Kanavas supports a $25 million stem cell proposal by Rep. Mark Green, (R-Green Bay), Doyle's gubernatorial challenger. The plan calls for stem cell research that does not involve the destruction of embryos.

None of the research from the projects funded in 2005 involved embryonic stem cells, and it's unclear whether further research under Doyle's proposal would involve such research.

But it could, which is why Wiener said Marquette would not be participating in any research involving embryonic stem cells.

"If embryonic stem cells are the focus of the grant activity, Marquette University will not sponsor such research on its campus," he said.

Wiener said the university's research manual prohibits stem cell research, and that the regulation was in place prior to his arrival at the university a year ago.

In terms of what research could be done at Marquette, Wiener said it's still difficult to say.

But he did say the university could be involved in research about addiction.

"We do quite a bit in terms of studying addiction. I would suspect that we would probably be involved in that," he said.

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