Rich Donors Help Calif. Fund Stem Cell Research
By Sonya Geis,
Washington Post
| 12. 19. 2006
LOS ANGELES -- Two years after California voters passed a landmark $3 billion bond measure for stem cell research, not a single bond has been sold and not a penny of bond money has been spent. The fund is caught up in court challenges.
But remarkably, the private sector has stepped in to fill the gap with almost unprecedented contributions to state government.
This fall, affluent Californians gave $31 million to the state agency that doles out grants for stem cell research, allowing it to begin functioning. Private money is also building new stem cell labs on university campuses across the state. Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad gave $25 million to the University of Southern California for a stem cell institute, sound-technology pioneer Ray Dolby gave $16 million to the University of California at San Francisco, and local donors are contributing to a $75 million expansion at the University of California at Davis.
"I was amazed by the number of wealthy Californians who have stepped up and decided to support a public agency," said Owen Witte, director of the new...
Related Articles
By Carly Mallenbaum and Alex Golden, Axios | 04.08.2026
Without a federal law, surrogacy in the U.S. is governed by a patchwork of state regulations that can determine everything from whether agreements are legally binding to who is recognized as a parent at birth.
Why it matters: More Americans...
By Mary Hartnett, WFYI | 03.30.2026
"1907 Indiana Eugenics Law" via Wikimedia Commons | CC by-SA 4.0
Indiana was the first government in the world to pass a eugenic sterilization law. The state sterilized 2,500 people from 1907-to-1974. Indiana apologized for implementing the program...
By Carly Mallenbaum, Axios [cites Emily Galpern] | 03.29.2026
More Americans are turning to surrogacy to build their families, as the practice becomes more common and more publicly discussed.
Why it matters: As surrogacy becomes more visible and accessible, ethical, legal and cultural tensions become harder to ignore...
By Carly Mallenbaum, Axios [cites Surrogacy360] | 03.29.2026
Without a federal law, surrogacy in the U.S. is governed by a patchwork of state regulations/
Why it matters: Confusing, varied local rules can determine everything from whether agreements are legally binding to who is recognized as a parent at...
