February 2016 – Page 64 – Welcome to Wyandotte Daily!

Lawmakers seek financial independence for KU stem cell center

by Andy Marso, KHI News Service

After three years of providing state funding for a medical research center focused on adult stem cell treatments, Kansas legislators are asking when the center will be financially independent.

Officials from the University of Kansas Medical Center’s Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center had just presented their annual report Monday when Sen. Jeff Melcher, a Republican from Leawood, asked whether they were seeking “venture funding or any private equity to continue this once the state’s contribution to this research has ended.”

“I was curious how this can be self-sustaining,” Melcher said.

Melcher’s comments were similar to those made by another Republican, Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, after the center gave its annual report last year.

Buddhadeb Dawn, the stem cell center’s director, said Monday that the facility is about to sign a contract with a private company that will “be a source of revenue … for 10 years or so” and will receive some per-patient reimbursement when it starts enrolling people in upcoming clinical trials. The center also is approaching private donors individually and through the KU Endowment Association, he said.

When Melcher pressed for a more specific timeframe on self-sufficiency, Dawn said business ventures are unpredictable.

“We don’t see the future,” Dawn said. “I would hope that will become a reality someday. Now how far in the future that day is, I don’t think we have a crystal ball. But we are working on all the avenues that are possible.”

Difference in cells

The Legislature established the research center in 2013 to showcase adult stem cells as an alternative to embryonic stem cells, which are controversial because they usually are gleaned from fertilized eggs created during the in-vitro process that are not used for pregnancy and are subsequently donated for research.

Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research was disallowed under President George W. Bush, but President Barack Obama reversed that decision.

Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, a Republican from Shawnee who spearheaded the KU center’s creation, said the center is helping adult stem cells separate themselves from the shadow of that controversy.

“A few years ago I was helping my parents with their illnesses and it became very apparent that the average physician knows little to nothing about stem cells — even the difference between embryonic stem cells, which have no proven success, and adult stem cells,” Pilcher-Cook said.

David Prentice, vice president and research director of the Charlotte Lozier Institute and prominent opponent of embryonic stem cell research, accompanied the KU adult stem cell center officials Monday as they spoke to legislative committees and met with Gov. Sam Brownback.

Embryonic stem cells are naturally “pluripotent,” meaning they can develop into any type of cell in the body, while adult stem cells are “multipotent,” meaning they can develop only into certain subgroups of cell types.

But some facilities, including the KU stem cell center, have been able to create “induced pluripotent cells,” which are adult cells that have been genetically manipulated to mimic the flexibility of embryonic stem cells. Researchers don’t yet know whether they will have the same clinical applications.

A small-scale trial published in the British medical journal The Lancet in 2014 showed some vision restoration when embryonic stem cells were used to treat progressive eye diseases.

It was the first clinical trial approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to show positive results from the use of embryonic stem cells.

‘Bare-bones personnel’

The KU center currently receives about 70 percent of its funding from the state, but the projected contribution of about $800,000 in the next fiscal year is far less than some other states, and the center has only four full-time employees.

“We have perhaps a bare-bones personnel in our center,” Dawn said. “But we have done quite well with that because we have an outstanding team.”

He said the center is preparing to enter patients into a heart repair clinical trial and hopes to have another trial related to stroke recovery up and running within months.

After Monday’s committee hearing, Dawn said he believes the center is creating a good return on the state’s investment, but he understands the current budget constraints and lawmakers’ desire for the center to pay for itself.

“We have to make sure that we earn the money to operate this long-term, so I agree with that concept; that we don’t want to become a liability, we want to be a successful business and should have our revenues support our missions,” he said.

Dawn said there is some danger scientifically to trying to speed the process of developing marketable products or taking on private-sector partners who may have marketing agendas.

But he said his center will leverage the expertise of prominent scientists at KU to ensure private-sector proposals are evaluated critically and the integrity of the research is preserved.

“We want to follow a thorough process that is scientifically driven and not driven by money alone,” Dawn said.

In his annual report, he noted that the center is in contact with the Catholic Archdiocese and the Vatican about helping highlight for the public the adult stem cell research the center is doing as a contrast to embryonic stem cell research, which the Catholic Church opposes.

Dawn said the Catholic Church also could be a resource for philanthropic donations to subsidize the center.

“That possibility has certainly crossed our minds,” Dawn said, “but we do not know how effective that will be, and that certainly is perhaps not the most important goal in this collaboration.”

The nonprofit KHI News Service is an editorially independent initiative of the Kansas Health Institute and a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor reporting collaboration. All stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to KHI.org when a story is reposted online.

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Police identify fatal shooting victims

Kansas City, Kan., police today identified the fatal shooting victims who were found inside a residence in the 1800 block of North 76th on Monday.

The victims were Leslie Jacobson, 26, and Micky Burke, 31, both of Kansas City, Kan., a police spokesman said.

The victims died from an apparent gunshot wound, police said.

This incident remains under investigation by the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department’s Major Case Unit, which is encouraging anyone with information to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

KCK woman cuts through red tape to deliver more bottled water to Flint

A Kansas City, Kan., resident recently led an effort to ship bottled water and deliver into the hands of Flint, Mich., residents. (Photo from Janice Witt) — A Kansas City, Kan., resident recently led an effort to ship bottled water and deliver it into the hands of Flint, Mich., residents. (Photo from Janice Witt)

by Mary Rupert
When Kansas City, Kan., resident Janice Witt saw on the news that the people of Flint, Mich., needed bottled water, she didn’t just write a check and mail it off.

Witt, who is the director of the Reola Grant Center for Family Life Development, a charitable agency located at the Victory Dodge dealership at 6640 State Ave., cut through red tape and personally put bottled water into the hands of Flint residents.

People all over America have been sending water to Flint, but Witt did it in her own way. She chartered two freight trucks, and took 138,000 bottles of water to Flint residents, passing them out door-to-door on Feb. 5.

Witt heard on the news about the water crisis in Flint. When the government there decided to save money and switched the city’s source of drinking water, an estimated 8,000 children younger than 6 in the city were put in danger through lead in their drinking water. Lead has a damaging effect on the brain.

Something about the situation touched her.

“They are the cookie-cutter story of Wyandotte County,” Witt said, citing similarities such as large numbers of needy persons, a large blue-collar presence in the city, a large number of senior citizens, a lot of dilapidated property, an exodus of good-paying jobs there and white flight from the community. “It really felt like home.”

Witt began making phone calls to people in Flint to find out more about the situation. She discovered, she said, that residents’ bottled water was being limited. While various officials said the people had enough water, individuals told her that they needed more water.

A family was being allowed one case of bottled water per household, which the residents and Witt believe was not enough. A family can go through 10 cases of water in a couple of days, she said. Allowing eight bottles of water per person, a family of five could go through 40 bottles in one day for drinking, she said.

She believes that the residents need better water for bathing and washing clothes, as well as for drinking. “Even half filled it would take nine bottles just to fill a baby bath,” she said.

Plus, some residents had to go to fire stations to pick up the water themselves, she said, and it’s possible that elderly residents may not be able to make that trip.

Witt said she discovered that some of the donated bottled water was just sitting in warehouses in Flint and not being distributed because some of the charitable agencies there and volunteers could not do it, were not strong enough to lift it, or did not know about it. Sometimes, small food pantries have to pay a reduced fee to food banks to get water and food for the people they help, she said.

So Witt began to try to get some bottled water to Flint herself. Her efforts to get water from the food bank here to Flint were not successful. They had to abide by rules that prevented them from giving it without a direct request from Flint officials, she said.

Then Witt started calling the bottled water companies, begging for water for Flint. She got a lot of turn-downs, she said, until she reached one that she had previously talked to about donations. They recognized her name, and said they would empty their warehouse for her. However, she had to promise that they would remain anonymous, she said.

Victory Dodge, where her charity offices are located, provided a car to drive to Flint and a driver, she said.

Then Witt went to Holland trucking company in Kansas City, Kan., to arrange for the shipment of the water. The company decided to donate two semis to take the water to Flint.

As it turned out, Witt’s call to the Holland trucking company was successful especially because the trucking company started in Birch Run, Mich., about 20 minutes from Flint.

“It was an immediate connection for them that they would step in and do something,” Witt said.

After calling other charitable agencies in Flint, Witt partnered with the Ebenezer Ministries there to receive the water, then to go to the neighborhoods with her and pass it out door-to-door.

The church had 30 to 35 people helping unload the water, and they filled a 5,000-square-foot building with it. Water was loaded into vans and church buses. Then Witt and other volunteers walked the neighborhoods and handed out cases of bottled water.

They delivered 50,000 bottles of water on the first day, and another 80,000 bottles of water on the Monday following, she said.

Witt insisted that there would be no limits, and residents could have as much water as they wanted, she said.

Witt said she plans to take more water to Flint later.

“First, we’ve got to take care of home,” she added. “As much as we reach out and take care of Flint, we did that in our off time.”

She’s also trying to get 150 to 200 people here fed through her food pantry. At the Kansas City, Kan., location, she will sometimes get requests for bottled water from people whose water has been cut off through inability to pay their bills, she added.

Witt greatly values her experience in bringing water to Flint.

Witt wrote on her social media page, “We care, we hear you and we are coming with the best that we have got. Bringing some American water to show you some American love.”

“It was truly the most amazing experience,” Witt said about taking water to Flint. “It was like I left home and went home.

“It really touched me personally,” she said. “It was a very, very rewarding experience. It really was, but more than that, it was eye-opening because Wyandotte County is all over America. These folks are suffering the same suffering that we are suffering here. It looks the same, tastes and feels the same.

“What feels very good is that people can fix this problem, people like me can fix this problem,” Witt said. “We’re not waiting on anybody to fix that problem. We’re going to fix that problem.”