With a review pending, the state's stem cell agency looks for new leadership, new therapies and more money

Lured by visions of nearly magical medical solutions for everything from cancer to Alzheimer's, California voters six years ago approved a plan to borrow billions of dollars to pay scientists to look into human embryonic stem cell research.

Today the unprecedented $3 billion research effort by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine faces a watershed moment, including the most sweeping review yet of its progress along with the departure of the man whose name has become synonymous with California stem cell research. Additionally, leaders of the program are pressing hard for concrete results that will persuade voters to cough up billions more to continue the effort.

This confluence of self-examination and changing of the guard comes amid criticism over the agency's promise of transparency and openness as it operates independently from oversight of the governor and Legislature; conflicts of interest by a board of directors who have directed $1 billion in grants to universities and research enterprises to which they have links; and the fact that no embryonic stem cell therapy is ready for patients, although the 2004 campaign for...