buildings at Rutgers, the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark and a center in Camden.
The Legislature is close to approving a ballot initiative-the Senate has already passed a bill-that would ask voters in November to allot $300 million to $500 million for research, Codey said.
"The last thing we want is three empty buildings," Young said.
RESEARCHERS EYE NANOTECHNOLOGY TREATMENT FOR SCI
Nanotechnology is showing promise in treating spinal cord injuries and could conceivably reverse paralysis, according to a report on the future of the emerging technology in medicine.
The report, released at a Washington forum this week, said nanotechnology-or the use of materials on the scale of atoms and molecules-may also help cure other ailments believed to be intractable by repairing damaged organs or tissue.
This suggests damage from heart attacks or strokes, bone or tooth loss or ailments such as diabetes and Parkinson's disease could be treated with nanotechnology, researchers said.
A presentation by Northwestern University researcher Samuel Stupp showed mice that had been paralyzed by damaged spinal cords regained the ability to use their limbs after receiving an injection of a solution designed to regenerate damaged nerve cells through nanotechnology.
The solution includes molecules designed to reassemble into the type of tissue that normally cannot be healed or regenerated naturally such as bone
or nerve, Stupp said.
"By injecting molecules designed to self-assemble into nanostructures in the spinal tissue, we have been able to rescue and regrow rapidly damaged neurons," he said, after showing a video of the mice before and after treatment in a forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
"We are very excited because this gives us an entry into the area of neuro-degenerative disease."
Stupp said the treatments used in research so far have not used stem cells-which are the base cells for human embryos that can form into different cells-but that stem cells may increase the potential for nanotechnology treatment.
The researcher said his team's basic research for spinal cord treatment has been published in Science Magazine and their latest results on reversing
paralysis are now being reviewed for publication.
He said researchers hope to begin clinical trials on humans for spinal cord treatment "within a couple of years."
Another experiment showed mice recovering from the symptoms of Parkinson's disease after being exposed to the nanostructures developed in Strupp's laboratory.
