Researcher Fights for the Future as a Scientist and Father

June 30, 2006 — -- When Douglas Melton's son, Sam, was 6 months old, he suddenly became severely ill. Not initially knowing what was wrong, doctors feared he might not survive.

Sam's blood and urine showed high levels of glucose, and he was diagnosed with type 1, or juvenile diabetes, a disease that can be treated with multiple daily insulin injections but is still without a cure. Melton's daughter, Emma, was later diagnosed with the same illness.

A personal and professional crusade was born. A molecular biologist and co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Melton goes way beyond the scientific pursuit of a researcher in his work. He is on a moral mission -- both as a scientist and a father.

"My dream, or my desire," he said, "is to find a cure for type I diabetes so that my children, and the millions of other children and adults with diabetes, will live healthy, normal lives."

Stem cells are the body's most basic cell type from which all other cells and tissues arise. It is believed that if one understands the transformation from stem cell to specialized cell, such as an insulin-producing cell, then one may eventually be able to fix the damaged cells and cure diseases.

But human embryonic stem cell research is no stranger to moral conflict. Its opponents believe the embryos from which stem cells arise are human lives being sacrificed for science. The Bush administration has placed strict limitations on their use in research.

Melton disagrees. "Because of political and religious disputes surrounding embryonic stem cell research," he said, "people tend to think of the field as being entirely focused in that area."

For scientists, the question of morality is most crucial when they are prevented from using the best tools available to help alleviate human suffering.

And for Melton, that suffering is very personal.

"Insulin is not a cure for diabetes," Melton said in testimony before the United States Senate. "It is merely life support."