Aggregated News
A fundraising foundation has received a $3,000 donation for California's stem-cell institute from an executive of a Bay Area stem-cell company, drawing criticism from a consumer activist for a potential conflict of interest.
The small company, Burlingame-based VistaGen Therapeutics, plans to seek research money from the institute. The donation came from VistaGen's chief executive, Ralph Snodgrass, as part of a fundraising event held in May by the San Francisco Foundation on behalf of the stem-cell institute, known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
Officials with the stem-cell institute insist there was nothing wrong with the gift.
The institute, created when voters approved Proposition 71 in 2004, is authorized to spend $3 billion on stem-cell research. But lawsuits have blocked it from using that money, forcing it to obtain private donations to keep operating.
Snodgrass, whose company is trying to grow genetically modified stem cells to help identify promising drugs for diabetes and other ailments, said the donation was his own money, not VistaGen's. Although he hopes to obtain a research grant from the institute, he says he saw nothing...
The small company, Burlingame-based VistaGen Therapeutics, plans to seek research money from the institute. The donation came from VistaGen's chief executive, Ralph Snodgrass, as part of a fundraising event held in May by the San Francisco Foundation on behalf of the stem-cell institute, known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
Officials with the stem-cell institute insist there was nothing wrong with the gift.
The institute, created when voters approved Proposition 71 in 2004, is authorized to spend $3 billion on stem-cell research. But lawsuits have blocked it from using that money, forcing it to obtain private donations to keep operating.
Snodgrass, whose company is trying to grow genetically modified stem cells to help identify promising drugs for diabetes and other ailments, said the donation was his own money, not VistaGen's. Although he hopes to obtain a research grant from the institute, he says he saw nothing...