“This is something I should have admitted a year or two ago,” Carl said so contritely that Ben’s concerns soared.
What now? Ben thought silently, trying to prepare himself for the worst, such as that the company had run out of money from having been embezzled or from some other disaster. With the contract signing yesterday, he’d been confident their financial situation was solid, especially with the contract certainly upping their market value.
“I hate to admit it, but I just don’t know enough about stem cells,” Carl said guiltily. “I understand up to a certain point, but when you hand me something really technical like this, it’s just beyond me. I’m sorry. As the CFO of this company, I should be more knowledgeable with it, but the fact of the matter is that I’m better on the financial side than the scientific side. Remember! You recruited me from the financial world, not biotech.”
For a moment Ben was stunned into a brief silence by a combination of relief and surprise. As a biomolecular scientist, he was so familiar with the material that he had trouble believing everyone else wasn’t equally well informed. Quickly the relief and surprise turned to humor, and Ben found himself laughing. At that point it was Carl’s turn to be confused. “Why are you laughing?” he questioned, genuinely bewildered. He had expected surprised irritation from Ben, not laughter.
“I can’t help it,” Ben admitted. “You’ve always convinced me you understood the field as much as anyone. Hell, I’ve asked you your opinion on a lot of issues, and I’ve always felt you gave me solid advice. How could that be?”
“Most of the advice I’ve given has been financial, and whether a company deals with stem cells or oranges, that advice is usually pretty similar. If it was outside of the financial arena, I suggested you ask Brad, Marcus, or Lesley. That was always good advice, and has worked pretty well. I’ve been trying to pick up more info as time’s passed — there’s so much to learn.”
“How about a quick review,” Ben said.
“It would be most welcome.”
“Okay,” Ben said, thinking about how to begin. “It all started in the early sixties, when a couple of Canadian researchers found the first stem cells in mouse blood. These were rather primitive cells that could divide and make progeny, of which, say, half became various blood cells and half would be merely self-renewing. Then there was about a thirty-five-year gap before a researcher in Wisconsin was able to isolate similar human stem cells from very early embryos and make them grow outside the body in glass dishes by a process called in vitro. At the same time other researchers learned to turn these stem cells into every different kind of cell in the body, such as heart cells, kidney cells, and the like, opening up the very real possibility for creating human replacement cells and parts to cure degenerative disease.
“Of course then disaster struck, involving the use of embryos originally created as part of the in vitro fertilization industry to get stem cells. Brushing up against the long-standing and very emotional abortion debate, the idea of getting stem cells from embryos caused Bush Two to restrict federal funding for stem cell research except from a narrow source of existing stem cell lines.”
“I remember all this,” Carl interrupted. “But what’s all this about induced pluripotent stem cells? Are they the same as embryonic stem cells?”
“Amazingly enough, they do seem to be pretty much the same, and in ways their creation defies what science thought about development. For a long time scientists thought development of a cell from a primitive stage to a mature cell was a one-way street. But that turns out not to be the case. In studying the process of development, there appeared to be about thirty genes that are involved in varying amounts and timing in the maturation process. By packaging these genes in different amounts and mixtures, and putting them inside a fully developed mature cell with the help of viruses, reprogramming was shown to occur, taking the mature cell back to an embryonic state, seemingly the equivalent of an embryonic stem cell.”
“So that’s why these new stem cells are called ‘induced’?” Carl questioned.
“Exactly!” Ben said. “And that’s why they are also called pluripotent, meaning like embryonic stem cells, they are capable of forming any of the three hundred or so cells that make up the human body.”
“It is surprising,” Carl exclaimed.
“It’s more than surprising, in my estimation,” Ben said. “It’s more like astounding. The science of induced pluripotent cells is racing ahead at breakneck speed. Four years ago it was the genes associated with development that were put into mature cells by viruses, and some of these genes were oncogenes, closely associated with cancer-causing capabilities. Even the virus vectors were known to be occasionally carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, so the resulting induced pluripotent stem cells could never be used in patients, as they would be far too dangerous. But since that early beginning just four years ago, genes have been placed as the agents to reprogram the cells to a more primitive state with the protein products of the genes, and the insertion by potentially dangerous viruses has been changed to using electric current called electroporation, or even more recently by certain chemicals that pull the development proteins in through the cell membranes without damaging them.”
“Okay,” Carl said. “Astounding is a better word than surprising.”
“More important, does this give you a better understanding of the field?”
“Much better. I’ve finally got some context.”
“I’m always happy to give you an explanation of the science. Don’t feel embarrassed to ask.”
“I will take you at your word,” Carl said, putting his hand back on the reprint. “So if I understand correctly, this article is concerned with a process that speeds up the production of induced pluripotent stem cells, and it’s another one of those key processes that we need to control?”
“Yes, and I believe, by the way, this iPS RAPID is behaving like it’s for sale, an issue you know more about than I. My sense is that they would be better to control than the company in Massachusetts. It would be a coup to snap them up before they get a chance to test the market. Do we have significant equity on hand?”
“Probably not, but with the signing yesterday, we’re in good shape market value-wise, and it won’t take long to be able to estimate what we could raise in the short run.”
“Do it,” Ben ordered.
“It’ll be done,” Carl said, and got up from his chair. “Thanks again.” A moment later he was gone.
Ben got up and poked his head into Jacqueline’s office. He had to squint into the sun shining through her windows facing east. “Any sign of Satoshi?” he called out to her.
Since she was on the phone, Jacqueline merely waved and shook her head, voicelessly indicating that she’d not seen him.
Returning back to his desk, Ben half joked to himself that in regard to Satoshi he felt somewhat akin to the father of a teenage son, constantly concerned to a degree where the kid was and what he was doing. It was now going on ten, and Satoshi had yet to show up or call. Ben sighed, recognizing that he was always nervous until Satoshi appeared at the office, even though the man had nothing specific to do. Ben had asked him to at least call if he wasn’t planning on coming in, but Satoshi never bothered. One time Satoshi didn’t show up for a week and never bothered to call or even turn his cell phone on, causing Ben significant concern. When Satoshi did show up, he said he had taken his family to Niagara Falls. Although things were obviously better now with the licensing agreement signed and notarized, losing Satoshi would be more than inconvenient.