September 26, 2007
King of the stem cells Interview by Erika Check Hayden.
On 14 September, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) appointed Australian biologist Alan Trounson as its new president. The CIRM has lacked a permanent director since neuroscientist Zach Hall departed in April, amidst rumours of tension between himself and Robert Klein, chair of the $3-billion agency’s board.
Why were you picked?
I think the CIRM board was interested in my perspective of wanting to push very hard at the pipeline between discovery and clinical application. I am more interested in getting discoveries through to the clinic than simply commercial operations or research for the sake of research.
What’s exciting you in the field?
There are a lot of options that are brimming with potential. Mesenchymal [multipotent] stem cells are already in clinical trials. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are coming of age and I’m interested in the clinical trials proposed by Geron, based in Menlo Park, California, and the University of California, Irvine.
Read the whole interview at NATURE|Vol 449|27 September 2007Published online 26 September 2007 | Nature 449, 385 (2007) | doi:10.1038/449385a
