Stem Cell Panel Expects to Award Grants

Stem Cell Panel Expects to Award Grants

"We have a responsibility to move as quickly as possible," Robert Klein said Thursday. "I admit that I am an optimist."

The institute was created by California voters in November when they approved a $3 billion bond to fund stem cell research over the next decade.

The 29-member committee appointed to manage the institute met Thursday and began to rectify the mind-numbing bureaucratic problems that need to be solved before the agency can be launched in full.

The Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee sorted through issues ranging from mundane personnel matters to grappling with the appropriateness of patenting genes and other life forms. Its only business in one earlier meeting was to appoint Klein as chairman and biotech company founder Edward Penhoet as vice chairman.

The committee members began the process of getting a $3 million loan from the state treasurer so the agency can hire staff and begin operating. They also appointed a seven-member committee to locate a headquarters and find office space.

Many of the board members, who were appointed by Gov...