California Stem-Cell Organization Announces $40 Million in Possible Grants

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine last week announced some $40 million in grants to 16 institutions for a stem-cell scholars training program.

The announcement is the first funding announced by the organization that is expected to ultimately disburse some $3 billion approved by California voters in 2004 with the passage of Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative.

Stell cell research, with all of its controversy, appears to be a growth engine in the new biology economy with nearly a dozen other states trying to follow California's lead.

The grants will establish a three-year stem-cell training program for 170 predoctoral, postdoctoral, and clinical fellows at 16 universities and research organizations, at a cost of approximately $230,000 for each scholar each over the period, or a budget of $12 million a year for the program.

UCLA, Stanford, UCSD, and UCSF led the California universities to receive funding, each receiving grants of more than $3.6 million. The J. Gladstone Institute and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles will each receive $2.4 million while the Salk Institute and the Burnham Institute will each receive $1.4 million as the top independent organizations benefiting from the program.

The stem-cell organization does not have access to any state monies yet as it is involved in litigation over the constitutionality of the mandate. The group said this funding will be financed by bond anticipation notes, a bridge process that allows the sales of notes in anticipation of funding -- although there is speculation as to whether or not this money will ever be disbursed, given the litigation.

Tags - [Stem cells, Grants]