December 2010 Digest
CIRM December Digest
Governing Board Re-Elects Chair and co-Vice Chairs
On December 15th, the CIRM Governing Board voted to re-elect current chair Robert Klein and current co-vice chairs Art Torres and Duane Roth. Klein will serve for up to 180 days to aid in the process of identifying a new chair.
New Funding Opportunity
In December, CIRM released a Request for Applications (RFA) for the CIRM Disease Team Therapy Development Awards. These awards are an expansion of the original Disease Team initiative and will enable preclinical and/or early clinical development of novel therapies derived from targeting stem cells or utilizing direct reprogramming.
New CIRM Spotlight on Disease Video
Videos of CIRM's "Spotlight on Devic's Disease" are now posted. Devic's Disease, also known as neuromyelitis optica (NMO), is a neurological disorder that affects vision and spinal cord function. The Spotlight was presented in partnership with the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation.
BioTime to Make Human Stem Cell Lines Available to California Researchers
On December 8th, BioTime, Inc. reached an agreement with CIRM to provide five clinical-grade human embryonic stem cell lines to CIRM grantees and California-based researchers.
External Review Team Reports their Findings to Governing Board
On December 8th, the eight-person External Advisory Panel (EAP), who in October investigated CIRM’s progress to date and trajectory moving forward, presented their joint findings to the Governing Board.
