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With the issue continually steeped in controversy, UCLA has announced plans to open another chapter in the stem cell research debate with a new $20 million institute.

Headed by Dr. Owen Witte, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, the newly created Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine will bring together researchers from various scientific and ethical fields, UCLA officials announced March 15.

Among the top priorities for the new institute will be conducting embryonic and adult stem cell research, with the aim of eventually being able to treat HIV, cancer and neurological disorders.

Stem cells, which arise early in the development of a human, have the unique ability to give rise to other types of cells. Their capacity for differentiating into new types of cells may lead to treatment possibilities for such diseases as Alzheimer’s, heart disease and diabetes.

“With the launch of this institute, we realize our goal of bringing together scientific, ethical, legal and policy experts from across the UCLA campus to focus on the great promise of stem cell research,” said Gerald Levey, dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine, in a press release.

UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale said the new institute “will enable us to continue fostering such interdisciplinary collaborations and to build upon the existing body of knowledge for the benefit of people worldwide.”

Unique to the new institute will be its focus on collaboration, bringing together geneticists, process engineers and microbiologists, among others.

“In a problem of this dimension trying to understand how cells develop into specific tissue types and utilize that info, (collaboration) is absolutely imperative,” Witte said.

It is hoped that funding for the new institute will eventually derive from Proposition 71, a state initiative passed in November which promised $3 billion to stem cell research, Witte said. But for now members of the institute have received money from their own fund-raising.

“We hope that we will be successful in getting our fair share,” Witte said, referring to the eventual grants that will be available when Proposition 71 funding crystallizes.

With regard to short-term objectives, Witte has been conducting workshops with various faculty groups and coming to consensus about the institute’s future. Currently, they are focusing their attention on hiring new faculty and establishing laboratory facilities, Witte added.