Lack of funds for a diabetes study is putting at risk work that could place Dunedin at the forefront of stem cell research, University of Otago haematologist and cell biologist Dr Jim Faed says.
In the wake of the global financial crisis, traditional funding sources had "dried up", he said.
Preliminary laboratory work for the stem cell research on diabetes type 1 sufferers at the Spinal Cord Society Research Laboratory has been put on hold.
However, it was hoped public support would get the study back on track and see it start next year, as planned.
Only a few thousand dollars of the $1.8 million needed had been raised, but project leaders were determined to stay positive, he said.
The trial had the potential to find a cure for, or improve the treatment of, diabetes type 1 and other autoimmune diseases.
"This is much bigger than I think many people have realised. We are standing on the brink of huge change in how a number of diseases are going to be treated. I think, in the next few years, we're going to see these diseases tackled effectively."
The trial would build on Chicago research that demonstrated improvement in diabetes type 1 sufferers with use of stem cells from umbilical cords.
Umbilical cord stem cells were shown to increase insulin production in even the most severe diabetics.
The Dunedin study would replicate the study, using stem cell tissue from bone marrow.
Researchers would also test two methods: treating diabetics' white blood cells with the tissue in the laboratory; and injection into the person. The Chicago study used only the laboratory method.
Without a commercial imperative, Dunedin researchers were free to come to an unbiased conclusion.
If Dunedin could not carry out the study and it was performed overseas, benefits could take an additional 10 or 20 years to reach New Zealand, he said.
