Posted Monday --- February 25, 2008 --- 6:15pm

UW-Madison star to play role at new research center

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A star University of Wisconsin-Madison stem cell researcher will play a key role at a new private research center connected to the school.

James Thomson will be director of regenerative biology at the Morgridge Institute for Research.

The institute is the private side of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, which will include a public research center. It is not expected to open until 2010 but its work will begin in leased space in the near future.

University leaders hope Thomson's appointment will help them recruit scientists to conduct breakthrough research.

Thomson was the first to isolate human embryonic stem cells in 1998. Last year, his team succeeded in turning skin cells into the equivalent of embryonic stem cells.

AP