The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center's Anschutz Medical Campus east of Denver, Colorado
Photo from uchsc.edu
The University of Colorado Denver is expanding its existing stem cell program into a regional research center.
UC-Denver’s School of Medicine on the Anschutz Campus now includes the Charles C Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Biology. Dr. Dennis Roop has directed existing stem cell programs at the Anschutz Campus since 2007, and will continue to direct operations at the new center. Anschutz houses a wide range of studies and research facilities.
The new center will carry on the university’s research projects, which seek to develop new treatments for heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, childhood diabetes and cancer.
The university’s medical campus is located in Aurora just east of Denver, and CU boasts that it is “the largest new biomedical and clinical campus in the United States.” The new center will draw resources from a number of institutions outside of the University of Colorado family to aid in its stem cell research. Colorado State University, National Jewish Health, The Children’s Hospital & the Denver Veterans Administration Medical Center will lend the new center expertise to facilitate its ongoing research programs. The University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Colorado Hospital will also contribute.
The Gates Center will test its treatment programs through the Colorado Prevention Center, a non-profit research and medical services facility located in central Denver. To facilitate a better understanding of the research performed within the Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Biology Center, CU is hosting an ongoing series of seminars that highlight key aspects of modern stem cell science.
(See a schedule of seminar dates and view previous seminars.)
CU issued a statement Friday, and took special care to highlight the origin of stem cells used in its research:
“Most stem-cell research at the Anschutz Medical Campus uses adult stem cells, not embryonic stem cells. The embryonic stem cells that are used are from lines approved by the federal government.”
The center is named for Denver businessman Charles C. Gates, the late owner of Gates Rubber Company. His family is heavily involved in philanthropic pursuits in Colorado.
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