Hernandez also learned that a number of high-ranking police officials had served under Bastos.
Mucho terrifico.
Professor Jimenez’s address was in Edificio M2, a blue and white rectangular affair in the center of campus. We followed the signs to Ciencias Biologias, and located his office on the second floor.
The thing I remember about Jimenez is the goiter. It was the size of a walnut and the color of a plum. Otherwise, all I retain is the impression of a very old man with intense black eyes.
Jimenez didn’t rise when we appeared. He merely watched us troop through his door.
The office was approximately six by eight. The walls were covered with color photos of cells in various stages of mitosis. Or meiosis. I wasn’t sure.
Jimenez didn’t give Galiano a chance to speak.
“The man came asking about stem cells. I gave him a synopsis and answered his questions. That’s all I know.”
“Olaf Nordstern?”
“I don’t remember. He said he was researching a story.”
“What did he ask?”
“He wanted to know about the embryonic stem cell lines President George Bush approved for research.”
“And?”
“I told him.”
“
“According to the NIH—”
“National Institutes of Health,” I translated.
“—seventy-eight lines exist.”
“Where?” I asked.
Jimenez dug a printout from a stack of papers and handed it to me. As I skimmed the names and numbers, Galiano got a crash course on stem cell research.
BresaGen Inc., Athens, Georgia, 4;
CyThera Inc., San Diego, California, 9;
ES Cell International/Melbourne, Australia, 6;
Geron Corporation, Menlo Park, California, 7;
Goteborg University, Goteborg, Sweden, 19;
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, 6;
Maria Biotech Co. Ltd.—Maria Infertility Hospital Medical Institute, Seoul, Korea, 3;
MizMedi Hospital—Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, 1;
National Centre for Biological Sciences / Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore, India, 3;
Pochon CHA University, Seoul, Korea, 2;
Reliance Life Sciences, Mumbai, India, 7;
Technion University, Haifa, Israel, 4;
University of California, San Francisco, California, 2;
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Madison, Wisconsin, 5.
My attention ricocheted back to the third listing. Quietly, I showed it to Ryan. His eyes met mine.
“Is seventy-eight enough?” Galiano asked, having listened to ES cells 101.
“Hell, no.”
Jimenez had an odd way of dropping his head to the left when he spoke. Perhaps the goiter pressed on his vocal cords. Perhaps he wanted to hide it.
“Some of those lines could get stale, or lose their pluripotency, or just plain crash. Four of the six colonies created by one U.S. biotech firm, won’t say which one, are turning out to be unstable.” Jimenez snorted. “There’s already a backlog of requests.”
He pointed a bony finger at the printout in my hand.
“And take a look at that list. Many of those lines are in private hands.”
“And private companies aren’t known for sharing.” Ryan.
“You’ve got that right, young man.”
“Is the American government doing anything to assure access?” Galiano asked.
“The NIH is creating a human embryonic stem cell registry. Still, NIH admits distribution of cell lines will be left to the discretion of those labs that birthed them.”
“ES cells could become a valuable commodity.” Ryan.
