Wisconsin will gain a more prominent role in stem cell research thanks to the arrival of the nation's first and only federally funded stem cell bank, Gov. Jim Doyle announced Monday.

While the federal government also sponsors stem cell research labs in Georgia and California, the new bank will be the first in the nation to consolidate embryonic stem cell lines from around the world, according to a WiCell Research Institute press release, which is in charge of establishing the stem cell bank.

While the University of Wisconsin-Madison will be involved in the project, along with other out-of-state colleges and universities, Marquette will not.

The National Stem Cell Bank, which was established by the National Institutes of Health, will catalog and distribute human embryotic cells that have been approved for federal funding. In addition, the ban will deal with the portions of the human embryo that are capable of developing human tissues, according to the institute.

The bank will also provide a uniform storing area for all stem cell lines, and it should provide researchers with a faster, cheaper resource for conducting stem cell studies, according to the institute.

The bank "serves a number of purposes," said Andy Cohn, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The foundation oversees the WiCell Research Institute. "It reduces cost to scientists from $5,000 to $500 for stem cell lines and will ensure that all cells are quality control tested."

Recently, the Wisconsin Senate passed a bill to ban human cloning in the state, but the governor is expected to veto the bill.

"Everyone is against human cloning, but the real purpose of this bill is to restrict stem cell research," Doyle said in a statement released in regards to the vote. "Allowing our scientists to search for the world's deadliest diseases isn't about being liberal or conservative, it's about being compassionate."

The stem cell bank will be managed primarily by the WiCell Research Institute, a non-profit division of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Of the 21 federally approved lines, WiCell currently operates five, according to the press release. In addition to the lines from the other states, WiCell will also be operating internationally.

Cohn attributed the federal government's decision to select WiCell to "the fact that we have the pre-eminent scientists in the world working at WiCell and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison."

According to WiCell's Web site, scientific studies performed at the stem cell bank will cover a four-year period. During that time, the organization will receive $16 million in funding from the NIH.

In addition to the National Bank, the NIH will be establishing two new Centers of Excellence in Stem Cell Research at Northwestern University and the University of California. The NIH will spend more than $9 million on these two new facilities, according to WiCell.

The involvement of WiCell means that the University of Wisconsin-Madison will be one of the driving forces behind the project. Marquette, on the other hand, was not at all part of the federal government's plans.

According to Cohn, there will not be any outside help from other universities in Wisconsin. Instead, the majority of the research effort will be carried out by the University of Wisconsin, WiCell and a select few private businesses.

According to Madeline Wake, university provost, "Marquette was never contacted by UW-Madison."

She cited the fact that none of the Marquette researchers employ human embryonic stem cells in research and the university's deep Catholic affiliation as reasons why the university may not have been considered for the project.

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 6, 2005.