Table of Contents
Amon G. Carter
Foundation
Gives $250,000
to Stem Cell Research
Fort Worth icon Amon G. Carter made a name for himself in the newspaper business – a name that continues to make headlines today through the Amon G. Carter Foundation and its generous philanthropic support. Most recently, Carter’s legacy branched out to the Houston area with a $250,000 gift in support of stem cell biology research at The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM).
The Carter Foundation’s contribution is part of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston’s $200 million New Frontiers Campaign to build and equip a new home for the institute and to recruit additional scientists to help advance investigations into the gene and protein causes of common human diseases.
“The Carter Foundation’s support will help us expand our current research efforts even more deeply into stem cells and uncover important knowledge about the potential of these cells to rejuvenate and replenish damaged tissues, to deliver gene therapies, and to reverse or prevent the destructive pathways of many of our common diseases,” said James T. Willerson, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center and visionary behind the IMM.
“We are deeply grateful to have the Carter Foundation’s partnership to help advance our programs here in Houston. The results of this research are sure to benefit individuals across Texas, the nation and the world,” he said.
Housed in the IMM’s Laboratory for Developmental Biology, the stem cell biology research program is the only facility of its kind in the Texas Medical Center (TMC) and supports many TMC institutions in their own stem cell work.
Stem cells are unique in their ability to continually divide, and they have the potential to turn into virtually any cell type or tissue in the body. Willerson and his colleagues at the IMM believe that stem cells could revolutionize transplantation medicine and gene therapy.
“Already, the developmental biology lab is conducting experiments using stem cells in animals to repair damaged blood vessels, with promising results,” said Rick Wetsel, Ph.D., director of the laboratory and professor of molecular medicine in the Research Center for Immunology and Autoimmune Diseases.
He said they hope to use such knowledge to develop new cells, such as cardiomyocytes to repair heart tissue damaged by heart attack or disease, neurons to replenish those damaged by stroke or neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, and pancreatic islet cells for the treatment of type I diabetes mellitus.
Willerson, in collaboration with his colleagues at Texas Heart Institute and the UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, already leads one of the two largest clinical studies in the world to treat end-stage heart disease patients using their own bone marrow-derived stem cells at a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The progress of these studies will pave the way for future testing of stem cell therapies like those the IMM hopes to develop.
Established in 1945, the Carter Foundation supports the arts, education, health and medical services, human and social services, programs benefiting the youth and elderly, and civic and community endeavors.
“Throughout its existence, the Amon G. Carter Foundation has supported organizations and projects that endeavor to enhance quality of life,” said John H. Robinson, executive vice president of the Carter Foundation.
“Through advances in areas like stem cell research, we see glimpses of what medical science can and will do for our quality of life, to someday free us from the pain and suffering caused by disease. I am sure Mr. and Mrs. Carter would have been proud to support such a distinctive program with so much potential to improve our health and well-being,” he said.
Carter brought many enhancements to Fort Worth throughout his lifetime. He headed the committee that brought the first airplanes to the Fort Worth area and was a director of Aviation Corporation, which eventually became American Airlines.
He was founder and publisher of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, still the major local paper for Tarrant County. Carter also helped develop the oil and gas industry in the Fort Worth area.
Carter’s will stipulated his wish to provide public access to his personal art collection, and by 1961, the Carter Foundation established the Amon Carter Museum in what is now the cultural district of Fort Worth.
In addition to the IMM, the Carter Foundation also has given support to the Reach Out and Read-
Texas program at the health science center.
— by Amber Buckley, Development