Syracuse University will soon integrate an interdisciplinary study of stem cell research into the curriculum because of a recent state grant.

The university acquired this grant from the Empire State Stem Cell Board through a statewide grant proposal competition. The grant does not support actual stem cell lab research but rather an interdisciplinary course surrounding the topic of stem cell research.

The grant gives SU $324,000 during a two-year period to start a one-semester, three-credit undergraduate course, said John Russell, chair of the biology department.

Though the grant was awarded in November, SU will officially receive the funds this summer.

Syracuse was one of five schools awarded this type of teaching grant. The other institutions include Binghamton University, Eugene Lang College in New York City, Columbia University – Morningside and the University of Rochester.

The course is expected to be available beginning spring 2011, but its housing department remains unknown. It will likely be cross-listed in a number of departments, Russell said. Additionally, case studies from the course will be made available to other universities throughout the state, he said.

The course will include faculty from the departments of biology, law, religion, philosophy and biomedical engineering. It will include faculty from the Burton Blatt Institute at SU, which aims to advance participation by disabled peoples in society, and SUNY Upstate Medical University, Russell said.

The class will combine lectures and cases studies, Russell said. Students will work in small groups of three to five individuals on specific case studies. Lectures on the biological, religious, legal and cultural aspects of this topic will be administered as needed, he said.

While stem cell research remains a controversial topic nationally, especially by religious groups, the grant has faced little campus opposition thus far.

‘I think that’s what education is all about – that we raise awareness,’ said Father Linus DeSantis from the university’s Alibrandi Catholic Center.

Student opinions are similarly supportive yet aware of possible opposition.

‘I think it’s great that we’re going to be able to learn about the topic of stem cell research – it presents a ton of opportunities medically,’ said James Jiusto, a freshman nutrition major. ‘At the same time, I can definitely see how this new type of curriculum could present an issue for some more conservatively minded students.’

The grant comes from the Empire State Stem Cell Board, a 10-year New York State initiative to advance stem cell research.

The idea for this type of financial support of undergraduate stem cell studies came from Samuel Gorovitz, an SU philosophy professor and a current member of the Empire State Stem Cell Board’s Ethics Committee.

He argued to the Stem Cell Board for the allocation of funds for undergraduate curricular programming. After nearly a year of persuasion, the board finally accepted his proposition, so he issued a request for proposals, Gorovitz said.

The proposals had to explain in detail each institution’s plan for spending the funds, the nature of the course, the means by which information would be available to other regional institutions, an approximate timeline of execution and the names of involved faculty.

There was little time in between the release of the request for proposals and the due date of the proposal, which was early summer 2009. This presented a challenge for many institutions, as the proposals required the creation of a university-wide coalition of faculty from a number of departments, Gorovitz said.

‘It’s really groundbreaking,’ Gorovitz said. ‘It was very competitive in the sense that not many schools or universities could get their act together to do something this imaginative.’

kapete01@syr.edu

Published on February 15, 2010 at 12:00 pm