A signature gatherer in Ventura during the 2018 election cycle. (Photo: Michael Gordon, via Shutterrstock)Backers of a $5.5 billion stem cell research initiative in California have suspended their efforts to gather signatures to place it on the November ballot, but are expressing confidence that the proposal will qualify. The campaign said it had run afoul of statewide bans on public gatherings.
A laboratory stem cell researcher uses a laptop in conjunction with a microscope. (Photo: moreimages, via Shutterstock)A small firm in Menlo Park, Ca., is probably the only company in the nation that is named after the number of a particular human protein. It is a small number too, only 47. But it has large implications for California’s financially strapped state stem cell agency.
A pipette and vessels usd in stem cell research. (Photo: CI Photos, via Shutterstock)The price tag for refinancing California’s unique and ambitious stem cell research program could run to close to $7.8 billion, give or take a few hundred million dollars or more. So says the state’s legislative analyst in a financial analysis of a proposed ballot initiative that is likely to be on next November’s ballot.
Stem cell research using what's known as a PCR strip. (Image: Science Photo via Shutterstock) Backers of a California ballot initiative to provide $5.5 billion more for the state’s cash-strapped stem cell agency say they will take their first official step by the end of this month.That’s when they will submit the proposed measure to California election officials and trigger a many-months-long process. The effort is aimed at ensuring that the nearly 15-year-old research effort survives in a meaningful way beyond next year.
A liquid nitrogen bank containing stem cells.(Photo: Alena Pavlovich, via Shutterstock) The $3 billion California stem cell agency on Monday served up the bad news with only a smattering of sugar coating. No more applications for research funding are being accepted. The cash is running out, perhaps as early as the end of August.
A scientist examines cells in a biological laboratory. (Photo: anyalvanova, via Shutterstock)The man expected to lead the drive for $5.5 billion more for California’s stem cell agency today said the Trump restrictions on fetal tissue research represent a dangerous precedent that threatens the health of all Americans.
Cell research in a laboratory. (Photo: SBshot87, via Shutterstock)President Trump has sharply cut back on federal funding for fetal tissue research in a move denounced as both politically motivated and destructive of the hopes of millions of Americans suffering from life-threatening diseases.
Human fetal placenta under high magnification. (Photo: photowind, via ShutterstockThe California stem cell agency says the Trump administration’s moves against research involving fetal tissue have had no impact on the projects that it is financing, at least so far. The agency, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), was responding to a question originally raised by a reader of the California Stem Cell Report.
Former Assembloyman Roger Niello. (Photo: rogerniello.com)He was elected to his last term in the Assembly nearly a decade ago, but it’s hard to drive around Sacramento without seeing his name constantly. From Acura to Volvo, the Niello name can be found on license plate frames throughout the region.
C. Randal Mills, the 45-year-old CEO of California’s $3 billion stem cell research program, is a man who loves his milestones. A private pilot, he charts his course in the air from one specific point to the next. Three years ago, Mills brought that same sort of navigation to the state stem cell agency.