KANSAS CITY, Mo. A new non-embryonic stem cell research center at the University of Kansas Medical Center, which stirred legislative controversy when it was authorized earlier this year, has already treated one patient, university officials said Saturday.

Doctors used the patients bone marrow cells as a last-ditch effort to treat a circulatory problem before amputation, said Dr. Buddhadeb Dawn, director of the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center. The patient was a man who splits his time between California and Missouri, officials said.

The treatment was part of a clinical study that Dawn said he hoped ultimately would have two dozen participants. He said he did not know the patients condition because of protocols to maintain the objectivity of the study.

The lab opened in July and started producing its own stem cells about a month ago, Dawn said.

Dawn was among about145 people who gathered at the Sheraton Crown Center Hotel here for the stem cell centers inaugural scientific meeting. Others who attended included Dr. Douglas Girod, KU Med executive vice chancellor, and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback.

This is the beginning, Brownback said, and we are catching it right as the field is really starting to burgeon.

Brownback signed the bill establishing the center in April.

Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Legislature criticized the center as an unfunded mandate for the the university which had not requested. the center. KU officials estimated the center would cost $10.7 million over 10 years.

Girod said university officials have always been excited about the scientific promise of the center, but that they were concerned about the expense while facing state funding cuts.

He said KU Med has received $1.2 million in state funding for the center, with about $700,000 of that going to refurbish existing space in its Cardiovascular Research Institute for the stem cell lab.

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KU stem cell center work touted | Kansas Health Institute