Creighton University is re-evaluating its relationship with a University of Nebraska Medical Center research center after learning that part of the center's work involves human fetal cells. Dr. M. Roy Wilson, Creighton's interim vice president for health sciences, said Wednesday that Creighton faculty have had no involvement in the fetal-cell work and were not aware of it until it was reported by The World-Herald. Dr. L. Dennis Smith, president of the University of Nebraska, said Tuesday that the research using human fetal tissue to learn more about the brain will continue because of its potential benefits and because ending it would have a "chilling effect" on the university. Smith's announcement came in a letter and telephone call in response to Gov. Mike Johanns, who earlier Tuesday requested that the research cease. The one Creighton faculty member who had been working on a sabbatical project at the NU research center planned to end his work there Wednesday, Wilson said. He said it is better not to have a faculty member at a center that is involved in such a controversy. As a Catholic, Jesuit university, Creighton supports the Catholic stance respecting the sanctity of human life, Wilson said. Creighton will help its faculty member find another site to continue his sabbatical work, officials said. He has been learning how to develop cell cultures based on rat nerve cells. Creighton is requesting that its name be taken off the Web page for the Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Diseases, said Lori Elliott-Bartle, a Creighton University spokeswoman. The center, headed by Dr. Howard Gendelman, was originally envisioned as a collaborative effort involving the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Creighton, as well as the NU Medical Center. Wilson said the original emphasis was on AIDS-related research. "But no one ever mentioned they were going to be involved in human fetal cell research," Wilson said. Creighton's involvement has turned out to be largely peripheral, Wilson said. Creighton has not given any financial support to the NU center. Individual Creighton faculty members will decide whether they will have a relationship with researchers at the NU center, Creighton officials said. There are common areas of scientific interest, not involving human fetal cells, in which the exchange of scientific information could be helpful, Wilson said. Two Creighton faculty members, Dr. Roderick Narin and Dr. Richard Bessen, are listed as faculty for the NU center's Web site. Wilson said Narin has not had any conversations with Gendelman for nearly two years. Bessen has met periodically with some other center faculty to discuss research trends, Wilson said. Their listing as faculty members is a result of the long-standing practice of some Creighton and NU faculty members holding appointments in both schools, he said. University of Nebraska Medical Center officials have said that the human fetal-cell research could lead to advances against Alzheimer's disease, other forms of dementia and other nerve-related disorders. The work began with small studies in 1993 and expanded in 1997. The fetal tissue is being provided by Dr. LeRoy Carhart, who performs abortions at a Bellevue clinic. Johanns said in a letter to Smith on Tuesday that the research "is disturbing and causes me grave concern." Smith said in an interview Tuesday night that the major issue is "there are some people, including the governor, who tend to link use of aborted fetuses as a source of tissue to the issue of pro-life and pro-choice. I don't think that is true." "We have no position on the abortion issue," Smith said. "We are not pro-choice or pro-life. We are pro-research." University research has no effect on the number of abortions performed in Nebraska or nationally, Smith said. "It will not cause one abortion, but it may save a multitude of lives," he said. Smith said that if the research using human fetal tissue were stopped, the opportunity to find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's might be lost. The federal government, after a long national debate in the late 1970s and 1980s and after a ban on use of fetal tissue, decided in 1993 to approve the use of such tissue, Smith said. "We have done nothing but conform to the federal legislation," he said. The National Institutes of Health make research grants available in a range of fields, Smith said. Medical Center researchers in the field of neurodegenerative diseases were among those who successfully applied for funds, he said. "They did what we told them to do. They competed," he said. "Should I or someone else censor the grants they apply for?" Smith's letter to Johanns said that agreeing to the governor's request to stop the research "would have a chilling effect on our ability to recruit and retain outstanding faculty and researchers" and would strike "at the very heart of the academic freedom accorded faculty in American universities." Further, it could set a precedent "such that any interest group could demand the cessation of research or teaching in any area they find repugnant," Smith said. Smith and Johanns had about a half-hour telephone discussion Tuesday that ended with them agreeing to disagree, said Chris Peterson, a spokesman for the governor. "The governor has made it clear that he is not going to engage in threats," Peterson said. "Funding for the university is not in danger over this. This is a philosophical disagreement." This issue now moves to the NU Board of Regents and the Legislature, Peterson said. Smith said he feels his letter to the governor was "fully explanatory" and will be the end of the issue. Others who expressed opposition Tuesday to the research included the three Catholic bishops in Nebraska and U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. The bishops - Elden Curtiss of Omaha, Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln and Lawrence McNamara of Grand Island - were drafting a statement condemning the use of human fetal tissue derived from elective abortions. Hagel said the experiments being done by the Medical Center are "wrong and should not be pursued." NU Regent Drew Miller of Papillion said the regents should continue to support and encourage the research. "The key question is, 'Does this promote abortions?' There is absolutely no evidence that is does," he said. "And so much good can result from this research." Miller expressed disappointment that university administrators didn't call the regents' attention to the federal grants that fund the research. The current debate should have occurred when the funding began, he said. World-Herald staff writers Robert Dorr and Mike Sherry contributed to this report.
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