Vatican Funds Stem Cell Research

by Jordan Yerman | April 29, 2010 at 07:35 am

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University of Maryland to Use 4 Stem Cell Lines in Research

The University of Maryland has entered a new partnership with the Vatican for stem cell research, founding the International Stem Cell Consortium. University of Maryland is leading an international stem cell research project, focusing on stem cells to be harvested from adult intestinal tracts. The Catholic Church is approving this process because it does not involve embryonic stem cell research.

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Stem cells are difficult to find, so targeting adult intestinal stem cells is ideal, because the procedure to extract them is relatively easy. The steps in preparing a stem cell are:

Find stem cells- harder than it sounds
Get them to survive outside the donor's body
Make those cells multi-component capable.

The Vatican is donating $2.7 million to an Italian medical school, which will then distribute the money to researchers at the University of Maryland and its associates. Aside from providing funding to relevant scientific research, this move is good for the Vatican itself, which needs to associate itself with something other than the ongoing Catholic Church pedophilia scandal, as forgiving the Beatles just didn't have the intended effect.

Catholic Church officials said the Vatican has faith in science to help people."The pope himself knows about this and is very enthusiastic about this research," said Bishop Denis J. Madden of the Archdiocese of Baltimore."There has been so much contention over the past 10 years, and I think the cardinal, the Italian NIH, the Vatican and the University of Maryland together are pulling the pin out of the steam on that debate," said UMd. Dr. Curtis Civin.