Qatar to Give BIPP $2.5M for Stem Cell Policy Research

By Franz Brotzen

The government of Qatar has announced it will donate $2.5 million to Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy for the study of stem cell research and international policy on stem cells. The agreement was signed on Nov. 28, 2006, by Qatar’s ambassador to the United States, Nasser Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, and Baker Institute Director Edward Djerejian.

The grant will establish a new program that will be part of the Baker Institute’s existing stem-cell policy series, “Stem Cells: Saving Lives or Crossing Lines.” It will support a major program focusing on international stem cell policies and the status of stem-cell science, which will study and analyze world policies regarding embryonic stem cell research, embryonic research and human cloning.

The program will include a series of major conferences on national and international stem cell policy development, workshops to bring together scholars and scientists from the international community, a new program Web site and major publications based on conference and workshop findings.

To encourage stem cell research in the Middle East, the program also will feature an annual award to a promising young scientist from the region. Some of the program’s international activities will be in direct partnership with the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development and organized at Education City in the Qatari capital, Doha.

The new program will be headed by Neal Lane, senior fellow in science and technology policy at the Baker Institute. “The Science and Technology Policy program has been interested in stem cell research and policies for several years,” Lane says. “This endowment will help us expand our program and do more research on international policies.”

The goal of the Baker Institute stem cell program is to connect policy and science in an international context and promote stronger avenues for cooperation and advancement of medical science and policy. Because of the controversy surrounding embryonic research, the program seeks to develop policies that account for cultural and religious factors that influence science policy around the world.