2009 Annual Report: Building the Base

Racks of experimental plates awaiting analysis

Sanford-Burnham
Medical Researh Institute

News at CIRM:

Building the Base

Getting from stem cell research to cures requires a robust pipeline of scientific ideas and talent. This pipeline will ensure that the best scientific minds are engaged across a spectrum of academic and industry settings and that we are pursuing the answers in cellular biology that will drive clinical applications of stem cells.

The Next Generation of Stem Cell Scientists
CIRM has invested more than $106 million to build California’s human capital through programs that train the next generation of scientists and laboratory technicians. In 2009 alone, CIRM directed $69 million toward training and developing the state’s stem cell research workforce.

Through 16 Bridges to Stem Cell Research Awards, CIRM is engaging undergraduate and masters-level students in stem cell science. The Bridges program funds lecture and laboratory courses, internship placements and mentoring activities to support students in their research progress and career opportunities. Graduates of these programs will have the expertise needed to contribute to California’s expanding stem cell research labs in both industry and academic settings.

Marisa Leal, a Bridges trainee in the San Francisco State program, said she hopes to earn an M.D., Ph.D. and develop therapies for cardiovascular disease. “The Bridges to Stem Cell Research Awards not only train tomorrow’s scientists, but also give people like me, a woman of color and first-generation college student, the ability and opportunity to reach my highest potential.”

In 2009, CIRM also funded the work of graduate and postdoctoral students and clinical fellows working in stem cell research labs through the Research Training Program II. Recipients of CIRM’s first Research Training grants, allocated in 2006, were extremely productive, contributing to more than two-thirds of research papers published with CIRM funding. The most recent training grants funded 17 California institutions, supporting programs that encourage young researchers to pursue a career in stem cell science. By providing them with funding to pursue stem cell research projects, CIRM has created a highly productive and focused group of researchers with the training they need to advance the field and build an extensive and diverse pipeline of world-class talent.

CIRM also supported efforts at the state level to advance legislation that develops California as a fertile ground for stem cell science to take hold and flourish. In October, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 471, the California Stem Cell and Biotechnology Education and Workforce Development Act of 2009. The legislation sets expectations for CIRM to collaborate with the California Department of Education and the biotechnology industry to incorporate stem cell and biotechnology into existing science and career development programs at the high school and college level. (See the curriculum developed by CIRM.)

The Role of Basic Research

Work by basic researchers seeking to understand stem cell biology feeds an early-stage pipeline of new research ideas. Their discoveries into basic mechanisms of stem cell biology directly feed into work by scientists who use those discoveries to further their work toward cures. CIRM’s Basic Biology Awards, planned annually, fund scientists whose discoveries will reveal the fundamental processes of stem cells—knowledge that is essential to generate new ideas that will drive therapies for patients.

In 2009 CIRM funded 12 Basic Biology awards at five California institutions worth a total of $16 million. (Read the Basic Biology Awards press release.) Included in these grants is one that seeks to turn undifferentiated human stem cells into differentiated neurons that could replace those damaged by Parkinson’s disease in the brain. Another is investigating the cellular mechanisms that drive reprogramming in order to find ways to develop iPS cells on a large scale for use in regenerative medicine, individualized medicine and drug discovery.

We can realize the full potential of stem cell science only through the talent and innovation of scientists who dedicate themselves to this area of research. By educating the next generation of scientists we will continue to build a base from which this vital industry can continue to grow in California. And by funding basic research we advance our position as a leading international hub of stem cell science. Supporting basic research is also a good investment: The National Institutes of Health has estimated that each dollar invested by NIH stimulates $2.50 of economic activity.