Stem cell agency at heart of research boom - San Francisco Business Times:

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Over the past severalo years, Klein has liver and breathed California's push to sell $3 billionj in taxpayer-supported bonds to fund stem cell research, firsy as architect of Proposition 71, which voterse approved in 2004, and now as chairmamn of the governing board ofthe , whicy was created by the Klein also has shouldered -- and, to a certai n degree, caused with his hard-chargingb personality -- the brunt of the criticismk of CIRM.
Through it all, Kleinj has been publicly But as he spoker following theCIRM board's historif May 7 vote, the weight of it all appeared for a "Hopefully the nation's great donorsw will join the civic leaders of California in backin up these institutions and theif commitment to the future of medical research in this new frontier of such great "Speaking as a father, speaking as the son of a mothef who will never see these he said before his voice broke for a "-- as an individual as well as the chairma n -- I thank those donors and the institutions.
" Klein'z 17-year-old son Jordan has battled Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes and Klein'x mother, in her 90s, has Alzheimer's. It was a bridgint moment -- as much between Klein, the politicapl player and the father/son hoping for a cure, as betweemn medical research's old and new worlds. Proponents of CIRM and Prop. 71 envisionj the new facilities as a way to accelerate stem cellresearcj -- after nearly seven yearss of federal funding restrictions -- and put cures, therapie and diagnostics for Parkinson's disease, paralyzing spinal cord injuriesa and other medical conditions within reach.
Otherds see the projects as a historic symbol of ideology and scientifix egos triumphing over prudent governmentt spendingand life, since embryonic stem cell researcn destroys embryos. Regardless, California is entering a new era of unprecedente d construction of stem cellresearcjh facilities. And after nearly three years of beinf held back in courft by fiscal and religious conservativee and another yearof intra-agency struggles and CIRM is about to uncorlk a series of programs that could move research and potential products closere to reality. "This is a Manhattanj Project. This is a war against Klein said.
"It's an opportunity to change the future of human We could live many lifetimes without seeinghthat opportunity." It's only just beginning. Over the next three CIRM will start accepting applications fora $500 million biotecj loan program and an $18 million internship programk to train undergraduate students. It also will expanr by $48 million a program to encourage innovative research byyoung scientists, offer $20 million in grantz to companies developing tools and technologies, and requesyt proposals for multidisciplinary disease teams. CIRM has handec out $530.
7 million in grants over the past two split nearly evenly between facilitiesand research, with most of that focusec on embryonic stem cells. That makes the agency one of the largest singlefunders -- if not the largestf -- of embryonic stem cell researchu in the world. The $271 million in major facilitiexs grants alone will leadto $832 milliohn in new research facilities from Sacramentpo to San Diego. And lots more money will be in play as thos facilities come on linein 2010. Nary a segmenr isn't touched in CIRM's strategy: companies, newlyt minted researchers, community college biology students, cutting-edge investigators, smallk labs, shared labs and big buildings.
Klein said CIRM's portfolio of funded technologies, productsd and disease targets willbe broad. At the very stem cells could offefr the pharmaceutical industry a more accurate andmore animal-friendlhy way of testing the toxicityu of drugs. At most, they could change the medicalktreatments forever. "In four to five years, a numbef of human embryonic stem cell therapies will be in humaj trials and a very substantial number of adult stem cell Klein said. The work has already started. A CIRM-funded core lab at the , for opened in April, serving a dozen Gladstone investigators who are workinb onstem cell-related projects.
What's CIRM-funded scientists are starting to credi t the agency for helpingtheir research. CIRM'ws concentration of cash and the potential powefr of embryonic stemcells -- prized for theitr pluripotency, or the ability to become skin, heart or otherf cells -- has scientists aimingg at new goals.