Big Stem Cell Grants

California’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine is a unique state agency—with guaranteed funding of 3 billion dollars from bonds. It was created by the voters in 2004, when the Bush Administration opposed using embryonic stem cells for medical research. The promise was to develop treatments for incurable diseases but—whatever the voters thought 8 years ago—that takes a long time. Last week, the Institute passed out its latest grants—150 million dollars, in hopes of moving from laboratories into clinical trials. UCLA’s Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research got 20 million dollars last week from the Institute.