$80 Million in Grants, Money for Viacyte and Blue-Ribbon Report on California Stem Cell Agency

Posted: December 9, 2012 at 8:01 am

Directors of the California stem cell
agency are expected to give away $80 million next week to 20
fortunate researchers in addition to exploring a “commercialization
and industry engagement plan.”

The subjects are on tap for the Dec. 12 meeting in Los Angeles of the governing board of the $3 billion
research effort.
The $80 million grant round is aimed at
“career development of physician scientists working in
translational stem cell research.”

“This award will fund promising
physician scientists in the critical early stages of their careers as
independent investigators and faculty members establishing their own
laboratories and programs.” 

Summaries of the grant reviewers
comments and application scores should be available sometime this
week. The bare-bones agenda lacked elaboration on the
commercialization plan.
Directors are additionally scheduled to
hear a presentation on the blue-ribbon report by the Institute of
Medicine for which the agency is paying $700,000. The report has been
17 months in the making and is scheduled to be released this
Thursday.
Other interesting matters are on the
table, although the agency has yet to produce background material
laying out any details. The subjects include:
  • More money – no amount yet specified
    – for Viacyte, Inc, of San Diego, which has received more than $36
    million from CIRM.
  • An update of the agency's response to
    the only performance audit conducted at the agency. The audit
    identified 27 areas where improvement is needed, but the governing
    board has not discussed the results publicly since they were
    disclosed last May.
  • Approval of the concept plan for
    another round of basic biology grants and adoption of conflict of
    interest code changes.

Interested parties will be able to take part at the meeting location in Los Angeles and teleconference locations in La Jolla, Oakland and UCSF. If you are interested in
the teleconference locations, you will need to contact the agency for more specific directions than are provided on the agenda.

Source:
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