To begin with, Haifan Lin and his stem cell center at Yale have succeeded in attracting another of the world's leading bioscientists to our state. Natalia Ivanova, an expert on embryonic stem cell development, will join the Yale team from Princeton. (See story in this issue.)

Meanwhile, those following stem cell research were fascinated to read of experiments that point towards a promising alternative route to generating stem cells: reprogramming adult skin cells by inserting master genes into their DNA. (See story in the New York Times.)

Although the most recent contributions to this approach come from laboratories in Wisconsin and Japan, UConn too has put a proposal for funding further research in this area before the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee, which is set to provide $10 million in state funding to Connecticut scientists in the coming year.

The reprogramming research is fascinating and promising, but it will take many years before we know if reprogrammed adult cells behave like — and hold the promise of — embryonic stem cells.  In the meantime, Connecticut’s focus on embryonic and human stem cell research is right on target.

All this activity is not going unnoticed. As I wrote last month following my visit to the UK, Connecticut has a recognized profile in the stem cell community in Europe as well as the U.S. Indeed, in a Sunday Nov 25 article, the New York Times dubs the state “stem cell central” and goes on to profile the work of UConn’s David Rowe and Ren-He Xu as well as Yale’s Haifan Lin and Michael Snyder. (See article.)

None of this means that stem cell research is the only research of interest going on at the moment in Connecticut bioscience. Far from it. Connecticut is on the cutting edge of research and development in many areas, from developing new vaccines, through fighting infectious disease, to inventing new medical devices. Indeed, this year’s CURE Award of Excellence has been given to Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in recognition of their development of Soliris® (eculizumab), a breakthrough in the treatment of the rare blood disorder PNH (paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria).

However, the Connecticut stem cell success story does illustrate an important principle. Government, academia, and private industry can and must work together to build up the critical mass of infrastructure and networking that vitalizes a knowledge-intensive industry like bioscience. The human capital we draw to Connecticut by successfully identifying and supporting a promising new trend in the industry becomes a long-term asset that continues to serve us as the industry develops.

Paul R. Pescatello is President and CEO of CURE.