In a novel effort to simplify and speed up safe human stem cell research, Johns Hopkins has set up a “one-stop shop” to preserve, create, supply and test high-quality cell lines for its own researchers now and the greater scientific community later.

“It’s frankly astonishing that no other place has done the much-needed, head-to-head comparison of the existing stem cell lines to fully describe them and make sure they’re safe to use,” says Chi V. Dang. “This isn’t the ‘sexy’ part of stem cell work, but it’s critical because this research aims at developing stem cell treatment for use in people, and ESCRO [Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight] is going to make sure to every extent possible that such use at Hopkins is safe.”

The Center and ESCRO will call on Hopkins experts to screen all cell lines for alterations or mutations that might compromise their quality or signal danger. For example, scientists from Hopkins’…will examine DNA sequences and chromosomes in each cell line for alterations that look like cancer or other inherited diseases.

Beyond researcher convenience and safety, centralization of services within the Center should mean economies of scale that will lead to better use of dollars and time, Dang notes. “These are core operations that can’t always be done by a single lab, and now that lab doesn’t have to reinvent every wheel to do important work,” he says.

With start-up support from a small portion of a $100 million anonymous gift to The Johns Hopkins University earlier this year, the Center first will store a collection of adult and embryonic stem cell lines, some approved for studies that have federal funding and some not…According to policy established by President Bush, only human embryonic stem cell lines created before 9 p.m. ET, Aug. 9, 2001, can be used in federally funded research. The cell lines that currently meet that eligibility requirement are not suitable for use in any future human trials because they were initially grown on mouse cells and therefore might harbor mouse-specific viruses.

I wonder if anyone explained that last part to Bush before he signed the bill — or was his intent only to help out his own rodent species?