California Voters to Decide Future of Stem Cell Funding Agency
By Katarina Zimmer,
The Scientist
| 10. 24. 2020
Over the course of its 16-year existence, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Oakland has helped transform its state into an innovation hub of stem cell science. But CIRM announced last year that its first $3 billion of funding has dried up, and now it’s up to voters to decide on November 3 whether to give the agency a second life.
The Stem Cell Research Institute Bond Initiative, Proposition 14, would issue $5.5 billion in general obligation bonds for the agency to continue funding stem cell studies, training scientists, and building new research facilities, with the aim of developing and testing treatments for a range of diseases.
The measure isn’t facing significant organized opposition, but it has drawn criticism from newspaper editorial boards and others for what they see as conflicts of interest between CIRM board members and institutions applying for funds. Critics also question the state’s ability to afford the new funding amid a record wildfire season and a pandemic, and the necessity of CIRM given federal funding of stem cell research.
“I have a company now...
Related Articles
By Gina Kolata, The New York Times | 06.20.2025
A single infusion of a stem cell-based treatment may have cured 10 out of 12 people with the most severe form of type 1 diabetes. One year later, these 10 patients no longer need insulin. The other two patients need...
By Christina Jewett, The New York Times | 06.05.2025
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently declared that he wanted to expand access to experimental therapies but conceded that they could be risky or fraudulent.
In a podcast with Gary Brecka, who describes himself as a longevity expert...
By Mike Baker, The New York Times | 02.25.2025
As investigators struggled for weeks to find who might have committed the brutal stabbings of four University of Idaho students in the fall of 2022, they were focused on a key piece of evidence: DNA on a knife sheath that...
By David Jensen, Capitol Weekly | 02.19.2025
California scientists took what looked like an $800 million hit last week in their efforts to develop revolutionary treatments and cures for diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes.
It was a jab from the Trump administration, one that generated apocalyptic...
