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Additional Excerpts from our Interview with Dr. Alan Trounson
Stem Cells Portal (SCP):
Work in the field of human embryonic stem cells involves the use of surplus and donated human embryos. This has always been a somewhat controversial issue in the public realm, and thus this research has always had to undergo evaluation, regulation, and even approval by people who are not scientists. How has this affected your work?
Alan Trounson (AT):
I had been subject to a lot of public interest and publicity with the development of IVF in Australia in the late 1970s and 1980s, and there were several issues that we had to deal with in a very public way, such as presenting the arguments in favour of having IVF available to couples, then moving on to genetic diagnosis, and so on. There were some strong conservative views against these developments, so I have actually been through the publicity associated with this type of research before, and in many ways the arguments for stem cells are very much the same, such as the issue of embryos being discarded or used for research. I don’t particularly like this process with all the publicity, but scientists have to contribute. In the case of stem cells, patient advocates also have a very important role, but scientists also play a crucial role in educating the community.
Because we were very successful in the early days of IVF, we also inherited some very draconian laws with respect to human embryo research, which impeded a lot of our research capacity in the 1980s and early 1990s. The laws in Victoria, Australia, were intended to prevent the ‘slippery slope” to unethical procedures from happening; they were the first laws anywhere in the world and were very difficult to operate within. Much of our work them was done in collaboration with people overseas or interstate, by necessity, because it wasn’t possible to do some of the experimental work in Victoria. hESCs are not attracting the same degree of critique, although nuclear transfer (SCNT) has been impeded in some instances. Whether that has adversely affected outcomes I’m not sure, because SCNT still hasn’t been successful in humans. Without these problems, would the work have been easier, had a bigger impact, taken the field further forward? I’m not sure. The impact of the American President coming out against new hESC derivation certainly impeded the work in the US, until the California (CIRM) and other initiatives got going. There were some hold ups in research because there was the feeling from some members of the scientific community that this was an area that they shouldn’t work in because career opportunities might be very limited. Adverse regulations may have kept some of the best scientists from becoming involved hESCs. The advent of programs like the one in California (CIRM) has really changed all that.
SCP:
Please comment about your feelings as to the importance of public discussions and lectures regarding ESC research.
AT:
I think it is very much the role of scientists to be involved in education. I think the public wants to be educated and to have an opinion based on fact. The internet is a very effective way of providing information, but public presentations and debates are also all part of what science is nowadays, no matter what field you’re in, whether its genetic engineering, new energy sources, etc. The public wants to know what the thrust of the research is and what the outcomes are likely to be. And the only people that can really address that in any serious way are the scientists. It’s a very important role that we have. We also have to be able to talk in a way that is understood by the public, comprehensible and useful, it’s a language which has to be modified form our own internal scientific language, and teaching people to do that has always been an important role of senior researchers.
CIRM has many different activities to reach out to the public, such as spotlights on various diseases or conditions, and where we stand today in term of regenerative medicine. These are generally held at the same time as our board meetings, which are public. We also work hard on our websites to get information to the public; we have our scientists go out to give talks and we encourage all of the scientists that we fund to talk to the community about what they are doing and why. It’s very common now to see young people at forums, rotary clubs, interest groups, and so on, talking to other young people about these issues. At CIRM we have a very comprehensive education program, which we work very hard on, but this is also happening, in many other countries such as Australia, UK, and Sweden.
SCP:
What are some of the biggest challenges you faced as a student and new investigator, and what strategies did you use to meet these challenges?
AT:
The most challenging thing was learning new techniques, such as micromanipulation, molecular biology, etc. The way that I dealt with it was to collaborate with others who had those skills and I could learn from them. I am also much more the type of scientist who is interested in practical outcomes, so I focused on this.
SCP:
What advice would you give to young scientists in the field today who are trying to balance the demands of work and family/personal life in this increasingly demanding and competitive field?
AT:
My advice would be to reach for the stars! Try to see something that hasn’t been considered before, take an observation and question why that happened in that case, is this really possible. Reach out and go beyond the edge and do that work. It’s exciting and very fulfilling. It does take a lot of time in the lab, and we are not normally employed to reach out into these areas by the public or private institutions that provide you with the money. In Australia, we call it skunk time – the time which is not in your normal working hours, when you do some of the really odd experiments that you are interested in yourself – this time can lead to some of the most creative thoughts and exciting observations. These were unconventional, innovative and creative explorations. This was one of the most exiting and invigorating times in the lab for me, and very rewarding.
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