CONNECTICUT STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING

1 2 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 VERBATIM PROCEEDINGS CONNECTICUT STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 1:08 P.M CONNECTICUT INNOVATIONS 865 BROOK STREET ROCKY HILL, CT 06067-3444 POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 Verbatim proceedings of the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee meeting, held at Connecticut Innovations, 865 Brook Street, Rocky Hill, Connecticut, on January 15, 2013 at 1:08 p.m CHAIRPERSON JEWEL MULLEN: everybody, and Happy New Year Good afternoon, In the spirit of believing 10 that every new year brings something different, I guess 11 we’ll see what the next six months of the legislative 12 session also brings for the Stem Cell program and what’s 13 going on with it, as we also embark on our next 14 opportunity to review and fund proposals for the coming 15 year 16 I hope you all are well, and I’m glad you 17 all are still here with us 18 say 19 would like to add? 20 21 That’s about all I have to No reports from the Department really MS MARIANNE HORN: I’m sure everybody is aware the Supreme Court decided not to take up the Anything you POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 Sebelius case, and, so, that appears to be dead, so I’m just going to talk about that They got a lot of mileage out of a case that probably shouldn’t have gone very far, but that takes the pressure off of lack of federal funding, whether that will actually add to the amount of federal funding, but at least the legal impediments are out of the way for the most part 10 Did anybody want to say anything more, or just wait? 11 12 CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: Well I have no inside information 13 MS HORN: 14 CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: Okay We’re proceeding? We’re proceeding as 15 business as usual, but in terms of the actual source of 16 funding, I don’t know what else to say 17 Has anybody had any communication with 18 legislators independently that you would like to share 19 with us, communications you’ve had as a member of the 20 Advisory Committee, or just as a citizen of the State of 21 Connecticut? POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 4 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 DR MILTON WALLACK: I did CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: I didn’t think you would answer that question DR WALLACK: CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: facetious You didn’t think? No I’m just being Go on DR WALLACK: I shared it with Marianne, and, as you intimated, I think that it’s business as usual, and what I think has occurred is really 10 interesting, though, because my understanding is that, 11 after we were taken out of the budget line item, we were 12 put into the bonding area, Bonding Commission, and what 13 was interesting I think about it was that, from what I 14 understand, what I have been told, is that, originally, we 15 were going to be part of the Governor’s Bonding Package, 16 and I guess, at the special session on December 17th, we 17 were taken out of the Governor’s Bond Package and put as a 18 standalone for the 10 million dollars 19 The Commission, as we know, is basically 20 run by the Executive Branch, Chaired, I believe, by the 21 Commissioner, by the Governor, I’m sorry, with people from POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 OPM, the Treasury, the Treasurer of the State, the Attorney General, a few other senators and so forth make up the Committee, and they meet I think the last Friday of every month They And, supposedly, from what I gather, since we’re not going to need the money, there probably is estimated that it will be voted on at the May session, which means at the end of May, which would I’ve been assured that while there has to be a vote, as you 10 intimated, we’re pretty well guaranteed that the vote will 11 take place in our favor 12 13 CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: intimate that 14 DR WALLACK: 15 CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: 16 Oh DR WALLACK: 18 CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: 20 21 I didn’t think I intimated that 17 19 I didn’t mean to Okay And I hadn’t intended to DR WALLACK: Okay, so, I think that what I’ve been told is that the money is pretty much assured, POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 because it’s the Governor’s initiative, and the Executive Branch is who is basically residing over what happens at the Commission, and the only question, then, is whether or not we would like to see if an earlier vote can be taken, if any of the stakeholders are interested in that My understanding is that there’s no real desire to see that happen, that the May date would probably be a fine day for us That’s the 10 million dollars 10 That’s on the one hand What’s interesting about it and very 11 important, I think, to where we’re going is that there is 12 the possibility, if we so choose, to petition the 13 Commission to consider a larger allocation of funds, 14 whether that be 100 million dollars over the next 10 15 years, or 150 million dollars over the next 10 years, 16 whatever amount we feel is appropriate, that we can so, 17 that we can approach the Executive Branch and petition 18 that we be included not as part of that 10 million, 19 leaving that alone, but, as a separate issue, going back 20 to the Governor’s Bonding Package 21 I understand that the Governor submits a POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 Bonding Package literally often, once a month, and we can try to be part of that to guarantee that we all continue what we’re doing for a 10-year period We can it in a fashion, from what I’ve been told, that there’s a stipulation that we only have access to X numbers of dollars on an annual basis, so that while we might ask for 100 million over 10 years or 150 million over 10 years, we would only be, then, accessing whether it be 10 million, 15 million, or whatever 10 If we choose to that, which I 11 personally would think we should and we should pursue 12 that, is my own personal view on it, we have to a few 13 things 14 We have to validate why they should 15 consider including us at that level of bonding, and the 16 validation, from what I’ve been led to understand, has to 17 be based upon past performance, past performance meaning 18 did we achieve over these first six or seven years the 19 goals that we set for ourselves going forward 20 scientifically, as well as from the standpoint of economic 21 development? POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 Based upon the achieving or the validation from going through that process, we, then, would have to be able to show validation about why we feel that we can achieve the next 10 years of accomplishment that we’re proposing as the reason for the new tranche of money And, third, it would certainly be in our best interest if we, in doing that, associated what we’re doing by identifying not just the scientific potential, the economic gains and so forth, but, also, how what we’re 10 doing can be synergistic to all of the other biomedical 11 research that’s going on or is proposed to go on in the 12 State going forward 13 So the 10 million is there 14 supposedly been guaranteed, although there will be a vote, 15 but don’t forget the Governor who put it there is the 16 Commissioner, is the Chair, and the thing that I take out 17 of this is for us to give serious consideration going 18 forward of how we should interact with and how we should 19 relate to the future of the Stem Cell initiative and how 20 we should, therefore, relate to what we should to get 21 in the Governor’s Bond Package as an allocation of 100 POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 That’s RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 million, 150, whatever that figure is for the subsequent 10 years I would recommend that somehow we put that on our agenda for consideration probably at the next meeting, or whenever so, if you want to that, so that’s what I’ve been able to find out about CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: summary Questions? Comments? DR DIANE KRAUSE: 10 MS SARA DONOFRIO: 11 I think it’s critical Caller, can you please identify yourself? 12 13 Thank you for the DR TREENA ARINZEH: Hi This is Treena Arinzeh 14 MS DONOFRIO: 15 DR ARINZEH: 16 DR KRAUSE: Hi, Treena How are you? Good It’s critical that we think 17 ahead 18 just submitted, because people just submitted a bunch of 19 grants 20 21 We have the 10 million for the grants that were It will be nice if we can review them DR WALLACK: guaranteed that It’s been said that we’re It’s not been officially noticed POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 10 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 DR KRAUSE: I understand, but that’s already a problem, and whatever guarantee one can provide we have it, but it’s not signed, sealed, delivered DR WALLACK: DR KRAUSE: Right But we’re talking about a program that we were, what is it, seven or eight years into our tenures, and hoping very much that with the success we’ve had that we would be able to at least continue it with 10 million a year, if not expanding it 10 And now we’re hearing, you know, right 11 now, you might have the 10 million, and then there’s no 12 plan for the future 13 DR WALLACK: 14 DR KRAUSE: Right And I very strongly think 15 this is a good Committee for us to figure out what the 16 plans are going forward and how we can be proponents of 17 continuing this program 18 DR WALLACK: And that’s why I indicated 19 my own personal view 20 are supposedly other ideas that are circulating about 21 where monies and how monies can be allocated for I agree with you totally POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 There 96 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 a requirement in reporting and what trails You just don’t want to have a final report ended, year two after it ended, year three after it ended You want to know what happened year one after it MS LEONARDI: We may be too early My response, just coming into the program now, as opposed to at the start, I looked at the, you know, the fact that we can’t get data on what other outside federal funding these scientists got 10 We only have what Connecticut put in It’s really hard for me to be able to walk 11 out and say we didn’t just love them 12 loved them, and they loved them in greater percentages 13 than you would other scientists, that we’re really funding 14 great science 15 Everybody else I don’t have any doubt that we are, but 16 the fact that we can’t get the numbers to say, you know, 17 our scientists that we’re funding are getting NIH grants 18 at greater, you know 19 The applications are nine, and we’re 20 getting eight out of nine 21 but, obviously, but that’s the kind of data we’re missing, I mean that’s not quite right, POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 97 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 so it’s really hard to take all this data and tell the story MR STRAUSS: DR KRAUSE: going to get those questionnaire worked We are -My understanding is you’re It’s just the way that the MS LEONARDI: DR KRAUSE: It was hard to get it? Well, yeah The questionnaire didn’t specifically say what’s the total 10 funding, direct plus indirect, that you have received, 11 that is stem cell related since, you know, receiving that 12 grant 13 question that’s being asked 14 MS LEONARDI: 15 DR KRAUSE: 16 That question wasn’t asked, but, now, that is the Great And that will take a lot of sleuthing 17 MS LEONARDI: 18 DR KRAUSE: Really? Yeah, because 70 19 investigators at Yale, which of your grants are stem cell 20 related? 21 years? What’s the total direct and indirect for all That’s the question you’re asking POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 It’s not a 98 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 metric we’re used to providing MS LEONARDI: DR KRAUSE: Okay We think about our annual directs, because that’s what we use total direct plus indirect over five years MS LEONARDI: DR KRAUSE: I don’t budget my Can you an estimate? Well that’s what we’re doing, so you’ll get that information, but it’s not instantaneous 10 DR WALLACK: So I actually so getting 11 to two points, so, some of us at this table I don’t think 12 that we question the response that the survey would get 13 What we questioned was whether or not the 14 answers that we received would exactly, Claire, what 15 you’re asking for, and, so, some of us we’re asking the 16 question in the development of the survey exactly to Ann’s 17 point 18 Are the questions appropriate to really 19 highlight the accomplishments and, therefore, to validate 20 the program, and I’ve used those terms consistently, and 21 we used it, because we knew, whether we go back to the POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 99 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 beginning discussion on the bonding or whatever it may be, that, at some point, we were going to have to get those answers, and we were hoping to be able to have those answers from the survey, so that’s one issue We don’t think some of us didn’t think originally the survey was providing that, and we wanted it to be provided I saw some estimates from Yale when we went before the Appropriations Committee that indicated 10 that there was a leveraging 11 You’ve probably received at Yale, Paula, what, 30 million 12 dollars or something like this during the course of this 13 program For example, figures What’s that? 14 MR STRAUSS: That’s not the number 15 DR WALLACK: I didn’t say it was the 16 number I’m asking an estimate 17 MR STRAUSS: Well the point is that 18 DR WALLACK: So let me finish 19 MR STRAUSS: We understood what was at 20 the bioscience forum and what was presented to the 21 Appropriations Committee by Yale and UConn POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 We can’t use RE: 100 CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 that number We needed another number And if Yale or UConn DR WALLACK: Can I just finish what I MR STRAUSS: No, no, no, wait a minute, because, you know, you got me a little upset here, because you are talking about what the questions were in the survey, and you criticized the survey DR WALLACK: I did MR STRAUSS: Yeah, you did, but you 10 didn’t give us the answer 11 were asking for isn’t worded properly 12 didn’t like it, and we were asking way too many questions, 13 which I felt was inappropriate, because our job is to try 14 to get it right 15 You didn’t say the number you You just said you And we passed that around, and we were 16 looking for input on what was the right dollar question to 17 ask to identify leveraging 18 Now we’re still working with UConn, and 19 we’re working with Yale, and it’s been not easy getting 20 that number, and we’re really close to getting a number 21 Now I’m not going into their records and POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: 101 CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 doing an audit to determine whether that information is correct, and this is really hard for them to do, because it’s in arrears, and it would really be a good idea to make sure that moving forward any institution or any company that gets funding is required to report certain things as part of this program, so that you can determine the accountability of the public funds, because the public deserves it MS LEONARDI: I think this is a great 10 MR STRAUSS: And the problem is that, you 11 know, if you look at total scientific research funding at 12 Yale over the course of this program of seven years, it’s 13 probably in the neighborhood of four billion dollars, 14 okay? 15 The total dollars that they get for stem 16 cell research probably exceeds 200 million dollars, so 17 this is a little piece of that, but the difference is that 18 it’s State of Connecticut money, and you need to be clear 19 on the information you want to get, so that as they’re 20 doing it in real time, they can provide the right 21 information POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: 102 CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 That’s the lesson learned here You can complain about what we put in the survey, but you didn’t give us the answer to say what that question should be All you did was complain about what we put in it, and the Universities did a pretty good job at responding The interviews were great The PIs provided a lot of information 170 pages that you can look through to get a lot of information to learn about what happened in this program We have an appendix that’s 10 CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: 11 MR STRAUSS: 12 CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: 13 So Sorry about that what I said before and respond? Can I just go back to Thank you 14 MR STRAUSS: 15 CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: You’re welcome Thank you To your 16 observations about the differences between the biomedical 17 program and this one and reflect that maybe this is 18 another example of change over time 19 I wasn’t here when well, as you all 20 know, if I had been here when people were thinking about 21 this law, I probably would have said can we spend some POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: 103 CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 more of the money on prevention of chronic disease over at the DPH, which I’m only saying that to say, you know, I’m doing my job as Commissioner to make that point Nevertheless, we have this program, and what was conceptualized back then occurred at a time when things were continuing to change, and everything that you’re reflecting for us charges us to think about all elements of this program, including the way in which we sit around this table, trying to this work, and ask 10 ourselves is this the way the stem cell research program 11 in Connecticut should be handled, period? 12 And this is not me saying put the money in 13 DPH, or send me off to something else as Commissioner, 14 but just to say, as invested as each of us is and has 15 been, maybe the frame has changed, and the model is 16 changing, and we need to be informed by everything that 17 you’re telling us, but not think that the only thing 18 that’s static is the way we the work in here every 19 second Tuesday of the month 20 21 So the survey results are important, and once we get to the point of thinking that something is POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: 104 CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 working, not working, helpful, or unhelpful, then we might be a little bit stuck in what our expectations are And we’re talking about scientific inquiry else is in your report, but I think at this point everything should be on the table, not just how the program is funded, but what happens with it, period, its future, how it evolves, how the work gets done I can’t wait to hear, you know, and see what We’ve had a lot of conversations about 10 whether or not, you know, we’re going to reach our limit 11 on peer review, and we know how important that is, so 12 there’s a lot that needs to be looked at 13 DR KRAUSE: I agree with you, and I also 14 think, I mean, there’s going to be things we find that we 15 don’t think are great, and I think there’s things that we 16 find that we’re going to think are wonderful, but this is 17 our opportunity to change those things and maybe identify 18 how we might change the reporting requirements and other 19 things, so that we can track how things are going 20 21 And we’re, also, to your earliest point, we’re really early, and that’s not something I think I POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: 105 CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 understood at the beginning of this a long time in my investment brain, but this is a short time, and I think it’s incumbent upon us to present the information in a way that we communicate it from a time frame, but I also think we just can’t ignore the things that we can better CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: Six years seems like That’s all? (Laughter) Anybody dare to make public comment? (Laughter) I really am serious 10 Seriously, is there anything else that people would like to contribute? 11 I think this is important discussion I 12 think this is really, really 13 on this 14 to be able to have and continue and probably a good 15 precursor for our discussion for next month, as we also 16 think about I’m not sure you were here yet when we 17 talked about how to go forward in making a case for this 18 and the context of bond dollars, which maybe are certain, 19 maybe aren’t 20 21 I’m making public comment I think this is very important discussion for us MS LEONARDI: I think bond dollars will be easier than budget dollars POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: 106 CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 DR WALLACK: MS LEONARDI: Might be I mean I am hearing from the Governor and his people a great commitment to investment, and that really comes out of bonding, and I think this is considered an investment in the future, so I think it’s going to be much tighter on, for example, your agency budget than it will be on the bonding dollars I mean we have to be very careful how we invest, but there is a real commitment to the biosciences 10 CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: And, then, as 11 Commissioner, what I would hope to see out of that is the 12 best program that Connecticut can have out of the bonding 13 dollars, because all these monies are precious 14 15 MS LEONARDI: Yeah That’s exactly right 16 CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: These aren’t 17 projects 18 for science in a lot of ways in bioscience in the State, 19 and, in our six years, we started out sort of in the bush 20 leagues or whatever 21 to be in the big time, and we’re getting proposals that These are what we want to propose as the future It’s time to act like if you want POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: 107 CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 are telling us how we and feedback to tell us how we should reflect a more rigorous world, then that’s what we should be looking for DR WALLACK: I think that, Claire and Commissioner, your comments are exactly on the mark mean we have to become better as we go forward said that, some of us have gone to national meetings, ISCR meetings 10 I Having You’ve been there, Marianne MS HORN: Um-hum DR WALLACK: And, first of all, there are 11 not that many programs around the country, but, certainly, 12 in the programs that anecdotally admittedly that we’ve 13 compared ourselves to, we come away feeling pretty good 14 about how we handled our program not having any models 15 We created the model, basically, here 16 and California basically created the model in 2004 and 17 2005 and 2006, and could we have done it better and 18 written in things? 19 to be examining that as we go forward 20 21 Absolutely, and that’s why we’re going So you’re absolutely right We’re going to get better and better, but I think none of us should We POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 RE: 108 CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 feel that we, with the tools that we were given and the experience that had preceded us, none of which preceded us, that we’ve done some pretty darn good stuff, and we’re pretty darn proud about where we’ve gone, where we’ve come from, and positioned ourselves at a plateau, where we can go forward very, very, very well, and that’s what I look forward to CHAIRPERSON MULLEN: COURT REPORTER: 10 Thank you One moment, please, for a tape change 11 MS HORN: 12 MS DONOFRIO: 13 scheduled for February 19th 14 MS HORN: Next meeting date? Sara? Our next meeting is At this point, we have on the 15 agenda further discussion about the program 16 like that would be a time, when we don’t have a very 17 crowded agenda, and we could have a good discussion about 18 that 19 DR WALLACK: 20 MS HORN: 21 DR FISHBONE: Great Motion to adjourn? So moved POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 It sounds RE: 109 CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 MS HORN: DR WALLACK: MS HORN: ALL: MS HORN: Second All in favor? Aye Thank you very much (Whereupon, the meeting adjourned at 3:20 p.m.) Everybody on the phone, bye, bye Second? POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 110 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 5 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 AGENDA PAGE Opening Remarks Approval of the October Minutes 14 Six-Month Interim Financial Reports 14 Annual Reports 18 Final Reports Received 21 Rebudgeting Requests 47 No Cost Extension 48 Grant Modification Subcommittee Report 50 Update on the Proposals that were Received 55 Update on Scientific Review 58 Next Meeting Date 95 Adjourn 96 POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 ...1 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 Verbatim proceedings of the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee meeting, held at Connecticut Innovations,... of the 20 Advisory Committee, or just as a citizen of the State of 21 Connecticut? POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 4 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY... years 21 ago on human embryonic stem cells as a result of the Bush POST REPORTING SERVICE HAMDEN, CT (800) 262-4102 13 RE: CONN STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 15, 2013 doctrine,