For stem cell commission, conflicts may be hard to avoid

ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland Stem Cell Commission is the state panel charged with distributing $15 million in research grants to universities, research labs and biotech companies throughout the state. To do this job, the commission needs members able to understand the science behind stem cell research.

Yet, as the commission’s 15 members settle down to work, it is becoming increasingly clear that some members face a built-in conflict of interest — as they come from the same institutions applying for the grants.

For example, both Johns Hopkins University and the University System of Maryland — institutions that will almost certainly have scientists applying for grants — by law appoint three members each to the commission. While none of those six Hopkins and Maryland members themselves conduct research, their absence from deliberations on applications from those institutions would presumably be felt.

The potential for conflicts extends beyond the universities, however. The commission’s chairwoman Linda Powers is the co-founder and managing director of the venture capital firm Toucan Capital, which is a shareholder in a dozen biotech companies that conduct stem cell...