Gov. Rick Snyder: State should invest in biomedical research

“We can come up with the idea, prove the scientific principles behind it, and we can also take it and make it into an application where it can touch peoples’ lives. That’s truly exciting,” said Snyder, delivering remarks at the annual Taubman Symposium on the University of Michigan campus.

Snyder said he wants more basic scientific research to translate to commercial opportunities, and he’d like the state to help make happen. While he didn’t provide details as to how this would occur, he said he would draw on his experiences as a co-founder of Ann Arbor Spark, non-profit economic development group with the same goal.

“I view that as one of the critical roles as governor of this state: to take that learning experience and expand it statewide,” he said.

But he encouraged sustained focus in a culture he dubbed “ADD,” and prone to shift its focus from one “bright shiny object” to the next.

The symposium aimed to highlight the work of several Taubman scholars, doctor-scientists whose research is funded in part by billionaire luxury mall entrepreneur, A. Alfred Taubman. The Taubman scholars are tasked with conducting “high risk, high reward” research that will have real-world applications to the patients they see in their clinics.

“In our basic science labs, we try to understand the cause of disease and develop new treatments and therapies that we can then take over to our patients,” said Eva Feldman, the director of the institute. “That is the genesis and the core of the Taubman Institute.”

Taubman’s donation of $22 million began the institute in 2007. The following year, Michigan voters approved Proposal 2, which loosened restrictions on embryonic stem cell research in Michigan, allowing scientists to use embryos left over from fertility clinics for disease research.

Taubman, a vocal proponent of embryonic stem cell research, has since poured millions more into the institute, including a $56 million gift in April 2011. His gifts to U-M top $142 million, which includes $100 million for medical science.

Feldman, herself a Taubman scholar, designed the first human trial involving ALS, or Lou Gherig's disease, and human embryonic stem cells. That trial is ongong.

Friday’s Taubman scholar speakers highlighted other areas of research, into better understanding in areas like obesity, pancreatic cancer and blood clotting.

In a trial that will eventually include 700 morbidly obese Michigan residents, Charles Burant, a U-M endocrinology professor, hopes to find clinically useful therapies for obesity, Type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders.

Now, there are 255 participants, the director of the Michigan Metabolomics and Obesity Center told the crowd. After 48 weeks, most patients have lost nearly a quarter of their body weight and halved the medications they take.

“The point is to prevent them from regaining weight,” he said.

Noting that 70 percent of people in southeast Michigan are overweight or obese, Burant said he hopes results will help individuals outside the study.

“We convinced Bluecare Network to support his program as a pilot program, to see if we could have an economic system for insurance programs to cover weight loss program,” he said.

“We believe this is going to have a large economic impact.”

Juliana Keeping covers general assignment and health and the environment for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter