ASCC board squabble blows up

Three members of the Australian Stem Cell Centre’s (ASCC) stakeholders committee have set up as an interim board to oversee the operations of the centre after the independent board quit on Friday.

The interim board consists of stakeholders’ committee chair Professor Edwina Cornish, deputy vice-chancellor of research at Monash University; Professor David Siddle, deputy vice-chancellor of research at the University of Queensland; and Dr Henry de Azipurua from the Howard Florey Institute.

The stakeholders, representatives from several universities and medical research institutes, have been at odds with the former board for some time over the direction of the centre. The former board sacked CEO Professor Stephen Livesey over a month ago.

Livesey told The Age that he had been at odds with the former board over commercial direction.

"People think of commercialisation as something negative," he told the newspaper. "But if you say 'do you want us to use the technology to help people?' everybody says yes."

The Age is also reporting that Minister for Science and Research, Kim Carr, cannot guarantee continued funding of the centre beyond 2011. The federal and Victorian state governments are the major funders of the centre.

The interim board said it was in discussions to appoint an independent chair to work with the interim board and centre staff to allow it to continue operations.