Munich

As California gears up to become a world force in research on human embryonic stem cells, European scientists are banding together, buoyed by recent changes in Spanish and French law.

The European Stem Cell Network held its inaugural meeting in Seville, Spain, on 12 November. It brought together scientists from 14 European nations and Israel in a bid to promote collaboration.

“We clearly need a network in Europe,” says meeting organizer Bernat Soria, director of the Institute of Bioengineering at Miguel Hernández University in Alicante. “Stem-cell research is in its infancy — we want to collaborate and cooperate, not compete with each other, just now.”

“In Europe we will never have the same resources as California will have,” says Outi Hovatta, a stem-cell researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. “But we are trying to reinforce ourselves by combining resources and experiences.”

As if to set an example, Soria himself cemented a collaboration at the meeting. His group's diabetes research will be bolstered by new stem-cell lines from the Karolinska Institute.

Europe has been deeply divided over stem-cell research, but an increasing number of countries are permitting the work. Last month both Spain and France joined countries such as Britain and Sweden in passing laws to allow research on human embryonic stem cells.

Other nations remain opposed, however. German scientists, for example, much like their US colleagues outside California, can work only with first-generation stem-cell lines created before 1 January 2002. These older stem-cell lines are of limited use in front-line research, scientists complain.

“The legislative situation in Europe is very complicated,” says Oliver Brüstle, a stem-cell researcher at the University of Bonn. “But if we want to work internationally and exchange data we really need to be able to work with the same cell lines.”

Scientists in the field agree that they need a single voice to speak to governments and put pressure on decision-makers for a common legislation. The new network, which will meet again in Edinburgh next March, could provide such a voice, says Soria.

And the need for common legislation is likely to become more acute — the European Commission's first explicit call for proposals for research involving human embryonic stem cells has just closed and funds could be forthcoming.

To secure funding from the commission, research projects have to involve multinational groups. But what the legal situation would be for a German scientist taking part in a project involving human embryonic stem cells has yet to be tested, Brüstle says. He adds that he will not work on any cell lines that are illegal in Germany.