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The Daily OrangeBio Bucks: Stem cell research funding in California inspires Gov. Spitzer to initiate N.Y. research efforts
By Eric Meyers
Posted: 3/20/07, 9:57 PM EST Section: News
The University of California at San Diego is using stem cells to develop new therapies for Alzheimer's disease. Stanford University is researching both a cure for deafness and a cardiovascular tissue graft. The University of California at San Francisco is busy constructing a fate map of the human embryo.
These are only a few of an array of new stem-cell research programs in California, many specifically researching the controversial embryonic stem cells, all because of an innovative new grant program.
And New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has a dream that this can happen in his state sometime soon.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine will provide $3 billion in research grants over the next 10 years. When the program was held up by litigation, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger loaned his own personal funds to get it passed. The CIRM makes California the largest source of funding for embryonic stem cell research. There are smaller but similar programs in place in Illinois, New Jersey and Maryland, and none of them fund programs out of state.
So where can a research program in New York get funding? Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed budget includes $100 million to begin a stem cell program. Next year, he will ask voters to approve a $2.1 billion program, called the Stem Cell and Innovation Fund, $1.5 billion of which will be spent on stem-cell research over the next 10 years. If it passes, researchers and universities - like Syracuse University - will be able to receive grants to begin stem cell research.
It is no mistake that the programs seem similar.
"I've watched what happened in California," Sptizer said in a Los Angeles Times article. "Governor Schwarzenegger came in and tried some things. They didn't work necessarily. He redirected the ship, and he seems to be doing stupendously now. There are many lessons you can take from it."
The New York program is also running into some trouble, with the Senate pushing to cut the stem cell research budget in half, while the state government works to finish the budget before April 1.
These are only a few of an array of new stem-cell research programs in California, many specifically researching the controversial embryonic stem cells, all because of an innovative new grant program.
And New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has a dream that this can happen in his state sometime soon.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine will provide $3 billion in research grants over the next 10 years. When the program was held up by litigation, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger loaned his own personal funds to get it passed. The CIRM makes California the largest source of funding for embryonic stem cell research. There are smaller but similar programs in place in Illinois, New Jersey and Maryland, and none of them fund programs out of state.
So where can a research program in New York get funding? Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed budget includes $100 million to begin a stem cell program. Next year, he will ask voters to approve a $2.1 billion program, called the Stem Cell and Innovation Fund, $1.5 billion of which will be spent on stem-cell research over the next 10 years. If it passes, researchers and universities - like Syracuse University - will be able to receive grants to begin stem cell research.
It is no mistake that the programs seem similar.
"I've watched what happened in California," Sptizer said in a Los Angeles Times article. "Governor Schwarzenegger came in and tried some things. They didn't work necessarily. He redirected the ship, and he seems to be doing stupendously now. There are many lessons you can take from it."
The New York program is also running into some trouble, with the Senate pushing to cut the stem cell research budget in half, while the state government works to finish the budget before April 1.
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bigbob
posted 3/21/07 @ 8:43 AM EST
Good thing Governor Spitzer had his eyes on California and not the neighboring state of New Jersey. The first round of stem cell grants in NJ only funded about 6% hESC. (Continued…)
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