Page 53 - Gates-AnnualReport-2019

We were also pleased to have several of our elected officials visit the Gates Biomanufacturing Facility. U.S. Representative Jason Crow (D-CO), whose district includes the Anschutz Medical Campus, and his staff stopped by during a visit to campus in July, and U.S. Representative Diana DeGette (D- CO) and her District Director Joeana Middleton arranged for a Gates Center update and tour in November. Given the Congresswoman’s long interest and involvement in stem cell research and her co-sponsorship of the seminal 21st Century Cures Act that included regenerative research provisions, she was enthused to hear about a hot-off-the-press $800,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health 21st Century Cures Act. This award to the Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) iPS Cell Consortium, which includes research teams from the Gates Center, Stanford and Columbia universities, was particularly notable as the Consortium was the only entity in a group of eight research applicants funded in 2017 to receive a second round of funding. DeGette was quoted in a November 26, 2019 Gates Center press release,
In drafting 21st Century Cures, our goal was simple: we wanted to find ways to safely speed up the development of new treatments and cures for some of the world’s most vexing medical challenges. And now, just three years later, we are seeing the real-world impact that this legislation is having and the promising new treatments it’s funding – like those here at the Gates Center.
Additionally, we were joined by various school groups and teachers who seek to augment classroom study with real- world insight into leading-edge research. Finally, off-campus outreach opportunities included an evening presentation to the Broomfield Rotary Club and Gates Center Director Dennis Roop’s introduction and presentation as the 2018- 2019 Honoree at the Colorado Chapter of the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Spring 2019 Gala at the Museum of Nature and Science. As of September 2018, the hard-working 42-year-old ARCS Foundation’s Colorado Chapter had celebrated the award of $6,500 to 46 young scientists enrolled in Colorado universities for a cumulative total of over $4.6 million.
The Gates Center ended the 2019 year having created a brand new website at gatescenter.org with which to disseminate information about its efforts to bring together and support brilliant researchers and clinicians in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine in order to accelerate discoveries from the lab through clinical trials to therapies and cures. We greatly appreciate having the opportunity to share our work and our resources both in person and virtually and are tremendously grateful for the interest and support that comes our way.
Thank you for the picture. We would like to thank you again for your kind hospitality during our visit to the Research Center. We were happy that we could visit such impressive Center for Research, and the most current Cells and Protein treatment. We learned a lot. Please send our thanks and regards to Prof Dennis Roop, Ph.D. and the others.
With kind regards,
Cissy (the one in yellow in the picture) Cissy B. Kartasasmita, Professor of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine/Hasan Sadikin General Hospital, Indonesia
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