From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics has opened a new stem cell manufacturing facility in Madison, expanding its production capacity to meet rising demand.
Gov. Tony Evers yesterday heralded the company as “a true Wisconsin success story,” noting its origins as an effort of James Thompson, a UW-Madison biologist who’s known for breakthroughs in the field of stem cell research. Thompson founded the company as Cellular Dynamics International, and it was later acquired by the Japanese company Fujifilm Holdings Corporation.
“Thanks to his pioneering research, collaboration between our state’s public and private sectors, today we celebrate our state’s leadership in the fields of biohealth and biotechnology,” Evers said.
Tomoyuki Hasegawa, president and CEO of Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics, yesterday said the new space “deepens our ties with Madison” and touted the support provided by the state’s biohealth ecosystem. Hasegawa holds a board position in the Japan-America Society of Wisconsin.
“Since Cellular Dynamics joined Fujifilm group, the team has accelerated innovation with great effort on science and technologies,” he said. “Collaboration between Wisconsin and Japan has been fantastic.”
The facility is expected to quadruple capacity for research products and services manufacturing, according to details provided by the guv’s office. The new 175,000-square-foot building is part of the company’s $200 million initiative on cell therapy manufacturing in both Madison and California, announced in late 2023. It includes cell culture manufacturing and process development labs as well as a center of excellence for gene editing.
“The work that our Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics team is doing in Madison is incredible,” Hasegawa said. “From a standard blood draw, we have the capability to develop stem cells into virtually any types of cells in [the] human body.”
See the release below.
— Wisconsin is among the states filing suit against the U.S. Education Department for limiting how much most prospective healthcare workers can borrow.
Federal loans for graduate students studying to be nurses, physician assistants and a broad swath of other health professionals will be significantly curtailed under a rule set to go into effect in July.
Attorneys general in 25 states and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear filed the lawsuit in a Maryland district court yesterday.
“We should be supporting the development of the health-care workforce,” AG Josh Kaul said in a statement. “But this rule would make it harder for some to be able to pay for certain degree programs, including those for nurse practitioners and physician assistants.”
The Education Department and Education Secretary Linda McMahon – who addressed this weekend’s state GOP convention in Baraboo – are named as defendants.
The same group of state officials, plus Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, sent a comment letter opposing the proposed rule to the Education Department and McMahon in March.
Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act restricted the amount graduate students could borrow to $20,500 per year or $100,000 total, beginning in July.
Students pursuing “professional degrees” can borrow up to $50,000 per year or $200,000. But the Education Department in January proposed a rule that said that definition applied to just 10 fields given by Congress as examples, plus clinical psychology.
The federal department finalized the rule on May 1.
The plaintiffs argue the rule “arbitrarily narrows the definition of ‘professional degrees’ by relying on factors that Congress did not intend it to consider” and will harm states by reducing funding for higher education and impeding states from meeting critical workforce needs.
The states are asking for the Education Department to be permanently blocked from implementing the rule.
Top Stories
– A U.S. Reckoning Over Chemical Pollution From Military Bases
– Exclusive: US Health Secretary Kennedy backs away from some recent changes to CDC vaccine panel
– GOP House rep’s wife to temporarily serve as surgeon general
– US Senator Durbin urges RFK. Jr to resist easing vape rules
– Ebola Outbreak Opens Old Wounds About ‘Saving Africans’
Press Releases
