Harvard Already Has A Stem Cell Institute, So Why Would It Create a Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology?

This week the Harvard Corporation, the University's principal governing body, asked Interim President Derek Bok and Provost Steven E. Hyman to prepare plans for the creation of a new Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, which will be Harvard's first University-wide department of any kind. (http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/02.01/99-science.html) The following Q&A has been prepared to answer questions about the planned Department, and the future role of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI).

Q: How does the mission of the Department differ from that of HSCI?

A. The essential mission of the Department is to teach and engage in leading edge research.  The essential mission of HSCI is to find cures based on stem cell biology for critical diseases. Encompassing the undergraduate, graduate, and medical school as well as the hospitals will help both groups support each other's mission.  

Q: What will be the focus of the new Department?

A: The new Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology would include tissue and organ formation, response to injury and changes with aging, studied at the molecular, cellular and organismic level. Organisms from yeast to man will be studied. Organizationally, this Department will report to the Deans of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and of the Medical School (HMS) and the Provost (or at some future time a Vice-Provost for Science).

Q: How would such a Department differ from HSCI?

A: There will be synergy between HSCI and the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, and some overlap of faculty, but the difference in mission means that there will be significant differences between the two, such as:

A:

• One of the principal functions of an academic Department is teaching both undergraduates and graduate students.   While HSCI has public education programs, provides educational opportunities for the HSCI community, conducts a summer intern program, and HSCI scientists bring students into their labs, as an Institute HSCI is not part of the formal University teaching structure; 

• A key function of this department will be to recruit leading faculty who will add to the strength of the University's already outstanding community of stem cell researchers.  As a university-wide department these faculty will be as closely aligned with the medical school and the hospitals as with the college and graduate school.   HSCI does not hire or promote faculty, but instead draws on the faculty of Departments across the University and in the Harvard affiliated hospitals;  

• HSCI works to coordinate a stem cell research agenda across the greater Harvard University community, including researchers and scientists who are entirely based in the hospitals, something a single Department wouldn't do; 

• HSCI serves as a funding agency - raising capital, reviewing funding applications from scientists, and investing in research programs - all of which are vitally important functions and are not normally associated with an individual department;  

• An integral part of HSCI's mission is exploring the ethical, societal, business, and religious implications of stem cell research, areas generally not the focus of an academic science department;

• HSCI works with state and federal legislatures and advisory groups to address public policy issues affecting stem cell research.   

 
Q: Will the Principal Faculty of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute be based in this new Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology?

A: In all likelihood, the entire faculty of the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology will be part of the Principal Faculty of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, but not all of the more than 45 HSCI Principal Faculty members, and 70- plus Affiliated Faculty members will be members of the new Department.

Q: Why wouldn't all of HSCI's Principal Faculty members want to be part of the new Department?

A: The HSCI faculty includes scientists who are members of  Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Harvard Medical School faculty members, many of whom are part of  either or both the clinical and basic science faculties at Harvard's affiliated hospitals. Many of those scientists can better advance their research and speed the search for cures to diseases, through the affiliations they already have, by being close to the clinic, or close to other collaborating scientists within their existing departments.

Q: Who will join the new Department?

A: It is expected that about 15 current senior and junior faculty members will become the founding members of the new Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. The expectation is that these will be individuals who feel that their research can benefit from being in close proximity to their peers doing related research, as well as are committed to teaching on either the graduate or undergraduate levels. Initial plans call for the Department to recruit about several new faculty members each year for the next five to six years, with an emphasis on junior faculty.

Q: Who will chair the new Department?

A: It's too early to say.

Q: Given the initial success and growth of HSCI, why would Harvard want to do this?

A: Harvard's creation of this new university-wide department reinforces the University's commitment to the promise and importance of stem cell biology. This investment is a critical complement to the work and resources of the HSCI.  By building a flagship, state-of-the-art science building on the Allston campus dedicated to housing inter- disciplinary initiatives such as this department and HSCI, the University recognizes that this field can become one a handful of important and enduring new intellectual endeavors in this century.  So doing requires aggressive investment and commitment of resources, chief among which are the faculty.

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