DNA Pioneer Defends Stem Cell Research

BERLIN (AP) -- Nobel laureate James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, on Monday defended stem cell research, saying researchers must be able to search for ways to improve quality of life despite the field's uncertainties.

"I think there's a perception that scientists are more interested in science than society, that scientists are less moral than religious people," the 76-year-old Watson said at the opening of a Berlin exhibit on his life and books. "I think that's completely wrong."

"To what extent research on stem cells will improve the quality of human life, I don't know, but we should be allowed to try," he told reporters at the Berlin Medical History Museum at the Charite Medical School.

U.S. President George W. Bush has limited federal funding of embryonic stem cell research to only the 78 stem cell lines in existence on Aug. 9, 2001. Embryonic stem cells are master cells that form during the early days after conception and can turn into any tissue in the body. Many scientists hope to harness them one day to grow replacement tissue to treat spinal cord injuries as well as diabetes and other diseases.

Some oppose the research on ethical grounds because a human embryo is destroyed to gather new stem cells.

Watson, an American, was 24 when he and the British-born Francis Crick, working at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory in 1953, struck upon the idea that the DNA molecule resembles a twisted ladder, or "double helix."

Decades later the impact can be seen everywhere: in the biotechnology industry, in pursuing gene therapy to treat disease, and in helping police solve crimes through DNA evidence. Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1962.

Since then, Watson has written several books -- including memoirs "The Double Helix" and "Genes, Girls and Gamow" _ in part to bring science closer to mainstream readers. He is currently at work on an autobiography, "Manners for Science." Berlin's exhibit features articles about Watson and selections from his work and personal history.

Crick, whom Watson said "treated me like a younger brother," died in July after fighting colon cancer. Watson said the two had most recently talked on Crick's birthday in June and that Crick was working on a manuscript the day he died.

"He had an extraordinary devotion to being rational," Watson said. "He remained focused on science."