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State's
stem cell panel distributes $74.5 million in research grants
SD UNION-TRIBUNE - 7:16 a.m. March 16, 2007
LOS ANGELES – California's groundbreaking stem cell institute awarded $74.5
million Thursday in its second round of research grants for human embryonic
stem cell research, providing the money to support four years of work by 26
experienced scientific teams around the state.
At least six of the grants, totalling more than $7 million, were awarded to
researchers in San Diego, with three to UCSD, two to the Burnham Institute and
one to the Salk Institute.
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CIRM
Awards First Stem Cell Research Grants
Friday, 23 February 2007
More than two years after voters approved a $3
billion program to fund stem cell research in California, the state has approved the
first grants focused solely on human embryonic stem cell research.
The 29-member Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC), governing
board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), today
approved 72 grants totaling approximately $45 million over two years, to
researchers at 20 academic and non-profit research centers throughout the
state. The grants were selected from among 231 applications totaling more
than $138.3 million from 36 California
institutions.
"Today is a day for great hope. These initial grants are important
because we all know that we cannot afford to wait when it comes to
advancing potentially life-saving science," said Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger. "This research brings hope for an eventual end to the
suffering from chronic disease - such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer or
multiple sclerosis - and promise for the people who love someone with one
of these terrible illnesses."
ICOC Chairman Robert N. Klein said, “Today marks another milestone in one
of the most important public endeavors ever undertaken by California. Patients and families around
the globe will take heart that human embryonic stem cell research is
finally beginning to receive the funding it needs and deserves. We are
grateful for the Governor’s leadership on this critical project, for the
support of private philanthropists, and for the votes of seven million
Californians who made this day possible by voting for Proposition 71.”
Scientific Excellence through Exploration and Development (SEED) Grants
were intended to bring new ideas and new investigators into the field of
human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research, and offer an opportunity for
investigators to carry out studies that may yield preliminary data or
proof-of-principle results that could then be extended to full scale
investigations.
“Our intent was to bring new ideas and new talent to human embryonic stem
cell research – and these grants do exactly that,” said Zach W. Hall,
Ph.D., CIRM’s President and Chief Scientific Officer. “They are going to 30
scientists who are new to the field of stem cell research and 27 who have
been independent investigators for six years or less. The quality of the
science that is being proposed is very high, which bodes well for the
future of stem cell research in California.”
The ICOC voted to name these grants in honor of Leon J. Thal, M.D. Dr. Thal
was a professor and chair of the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California,
San Diego. He
was one of the world’s leading experts on Alzheimer’s disease and a
Governor’s appointee to the ICOC. He died earlier this month when the plane
he was piloting crashed.
The ICOC originally planned to approve up to 30 grants totaling $24 million
in August, 2006, following Governor Schwarzenegger’s authorization of a
$150 million loan to CIRM from the state’s general fund. It is slated to
approve up to another 25 for $80 million in March, for research conducted
by established stem cell scientists.
“We were amazed by the large number of applications that we received. Because
of their high quality it was important to increase the number of awards and
the amount of money granted,” said Klein. “These projects will truly jump
start stem cell research in California.”
The grants
will fund a broad range of projects, including:
• An attempt to direct hESCs to generate specific
types of forebrain neurons and see if they can functionally integrate into
cortical circuits (UC San Diego)
• An examination of the role of mitochondria in
hESC differentiation (UCLA)
• A study of the role of a specific gene family in
“guarding the genome” of hESCs, drawing upon previous research with HIV and
other retroviruses (Gladstone Institutes)
• An attempt to identify small molecules that
target a specific signaling pathway to support self-renewal or direct
differentiation of hESCs, using a chemical genetic approach (UC Riverside)
• Generation of a library of hESC lines that model
a number of human genetic diseases (Burnham Institute)
• Development of cutting-edge imaging techniques
to view how heart cells derived from hESCs repair and restore myocardial
function (Stanford)
• A study of how mutations in mitochondria affect
the stability of hESCs and their ability to grow and develop into nerve
cells (UC Irvine)
Source:
CIRM Press Release, CA.
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