Stem Cell Agency To Dole Out Grants for Research on New Stem Cell Lines
On Tuesday, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine announced the receipt of 57 letters of intent for grants to research new stem cell lines, the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal reports.
The stem cell agency received 42 applications from not-for-profit research organizations and 15 letters from for-profit companies.
In 2004, California voters approved Proposition 71 to issue $3 billion in bonds to fund stem cell research. The initiative created CIRM to administer the funds.
CIRM expects to fund up to 16 three-year awards worth a total of up to $25 million.
The awards will support the development of new lines of human stem cells.
Completed applications are due Feb. 5.
A stem cell agency grants working group is expected to review the applications in March or April, and final review and approval by the oversight committee is expected by June (Solovitch, Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, 1/15).
KQED's "The California Report" on Wednesday included a discussion with Alan Trounson, president of CIRM, about his plans for the agency (Myrow, "The California Report," KQED, 1/16).
Audio of the complete program and an expanded interview with Trounson are available online.