Spanish researcher courted

Spain may soon recover another of its most wanted expatriate scientists. If negotiations are fruitful, developmental biologist Juan Carlos Izpisúa-Belmonte will return home in 2005 to lead a new Spanish National Center for Regenerative Medicine and Transplantation.Izpisúa-Belmonte is currently heading a high-profile research team working on vertebrate development at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego. His lab recently identified genes that control how an embryo distinguishes left from right and how it determines where to place a limb.Although the 42-year-old scientist was unsuccessfully lured 3 years ago to lead a research group in the Scientific Park of Barcelona, recently approved human-assisted reproduction legislation has created a suitable environment for his ambitions and future work in the country.Izpisúa-Belmonte was involved in the organization of one of the first Californian centers devoted to stem cell research. Now, Spain's Health Minister Ana Pastor has offered him the chance to lead a multicenter national bank of cryopreserved human embryos and human embryonic stem cells. The bank, consisting of facilities in the different states, was one of the first promises Pastor made when Spain recently became the first Catholic country in the world to approve this type of research.Izpisúa-Belmonte told The Scientist that the National Center for Regenerative Medicine and Transplantation would be located in Barcelona, not Valencia or Madrid, either in the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park or the Scientific Park of Barcelona. From this center, he says, he would coordinate research work at the different facilities and continue working on some of the research programs initiated at the Salk Institute. One of these facilities, he says, may be located in Andalusia and would thus resolve the conflict generated between the Spanish government and the Andalusian authorities over the regional initiative to create its own bank of human embryonic stem cells. This clash led the Spanish Health Ministry to announce last week that it will sue the Andalusian government at the Spanish Constitutional Court.The Barcelona-based center would be funded by the Health Ministry and the Catalan government, Izpisúa says. Montserrat Vendrell, research director of the Scientific Park of Barcelona, told The Scientist that “it's very good news” that a national center of research will be located in Barcelona, under the umbrella of the Barcelona Biomedical Alliance. “We don't know yet the characteristics and the location of the center,” she said. Although Izpisúa-Belmonte is not keen to comment on the eventual location in Barcelona of the center, The Scientist has learned that it will most likely be a €4 million research institute in the Biomedical Research Park of Barcelona—currently under construction. Jordi Camí, future director of the park, told The Scientist: “It's sure that Izpisúa-Belmonte will come to the [Biomedical Research] Park.”Meanwhile, the much-wanted scientist has also begun parallel talks with the Basque regional government to build in San Sebastián “the world's largest platform for high-throughput screening of drugs using zebrafish,” he says.In the meantime, Izpisúa-Belmonte is preparing an agreement with Salk to make it possible for Spanish researchers to be trained in its labs. “A crucial aspect of the move is the opportunity provided by a possible partnership between Spanish and Salk scientists.”If the collaboration comes to fruition, he says, “Spain's long experience in organ and tissue transplantation added to the basic research experience of Salk will mean a significant leap to close the gap between basic stem cell research and the therapeutic applications in regenerative medicine.” Izpisúa-Belmonte is also confident that the move will provide a “flurry of job opportunities” for scientists interested in this field.

Spanish researcher courted

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