The University of Wisconsin-Madison received federal grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of General Medical science for research on embryonic and adult stem cells.  The $8.9 million dollar grant will fund three projects lead by John Coon, Igor Slukvin, Junying Yu, and stem-cell pioneer James Thompson.  UW is especially lucky to get this grant as the federal government has been very stingy with the allocation of dollars for embryonic stem cell research.  Wisconsin’s position as a stem-cell leader will be further cemented by this grant, but we can’t rely on federal funding, the state has to play its role too.

From today’s CapTimes

UW stem cell scientist gets prestigious honor
The Capital Times — 4/29/2008 2:46 pm

UW-Madison stem cell scientist James Thomson has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

The announcement of Thomson’s election was made Tuesday by the university.

Thomson is among 72 new fellows going into the 145-year-old academy this year, considered one of the most prestigious honors in American science.

In 1998, Thomson was the first scientist to isolate and culture human embryonic stem cells.

In 2007, Thomson and fellow UW-Madison scientist Junying Yu announced their latest discovery, genetic reprogramming of human skin cells to create cells indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells.