National publicity for his mice-cloning lab in a Chicago Museum of Science and Industry exhibit is nice, says University of Hawaii professor Ryuzo Yanagimachi. Mice-cloning lab
seeks supportFunds are needed to hire more
researchers, a UH professor saysBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com"But we cannot live on reputation," he said.
His cloned mice are featured in a permanent exhibit on genetics that opened Friday at the prominent Chicago museum.
"We get a lot of enthusiasm ... but no one is interested in supporting us," said Yanagimachi, anatomy and reproductive biology professor and Institute for Biogenesis Research director.
The institute was built on the Manoa campus for Yanagimachi and his researchers after their pioneering mice-cloning in 1998.
He donated cloned mice for the Chicago museum exhibit, recently sending a shipment of replacements for mice sent earlier that died. However, if the exhibit needs more in the future, he said, "We will have to charge a little. They pay for shipment, but they don't pay for our labors."
Yanagimachi wants to build up the program with five faculty members leading research groups.
So far, however, he said he has been able to fill only two positions because of lack of start-up funds for new researchers. Neither the state nor federal funding agencies provide money for that purpose, he said.
He was able to offer $300,000 in start-up funds to each of the first two faculty members because of grants from the Harold K.L. Castle, Victoria A. and Bradley L. Geist and Kosasa Family Foundations.
"Without contributions of the three foundations, maybe we are not running the Institute for Biogenesis Research today," he said.
He has enough money left to recruit a third faculty member but needs $600,000 to hire the last two, he said.
Even with that money, competition is tough, he said, pointing out other universities offer $500,000 to $1 million as start-up funds for talented new investigators.
"We lost one candidate because we could offer only $300,000."
The institute needs an endowment fund to be stable, Yanagimachi said, enabling it to hire faculty, provide student fellowships, buy new equipment and pay honorariums to visiting scientists to teach new techniques.
He said he and his faculty members have federal research grants, but they are not enough to sustain the institute. He questions why the university does not receive more support from alumni.
"We're using the clone technique for other problems ... to use this very powerful tool to study cell differentiation," Yanagimachi said. "Our group is very strong in reproductive biology."
He wants the third faculty member to lead a group for cloning and cell differentiation.
Yanagimachi said he recognizes the "timing is bad" because of the economy and funding problems across the state.
Despite difficulties, he said his researchers "are working in good spirits. Our studies keep going strong, and many people want to come here to learn what we are doing.
"We are very positive. We want to make Hawaii famous for science. ... We cannot live for the past; we must live for the future."
University of Hawaii
