The Vatican will finance new research, led by the University of Maryland's School of Medicine, into the potential use of adult stem cells in the treatment of intestinal and possibly other diseases, Baltimore Sun colleague Kelly Brewington reports.
The Italian-American partnership, known as the International Intestinal Stem Cell Consortium, brings together researchers from the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Maryland; The University of Salerno, Bambino Gesu — an Italian children's hospital; and the Istituto Superiore di Sanita — the Italian equivalent of the National Institutes of Health.
The project is at a preliminary phase and it will be years before any clinical treatment might be available, Vatican officials said.
Cardinal Renato Martino said he expected the Vatican to help finance the project through Bambino Gesu, but the exact amount must still be worked out in future meetings with the University of Maryland. An initial announcement by the university said the Vatican had already agreed to donate $2.7 million to the research.