Year 4

The CIRM Bridges training program in the 2014 funding cycle has enabled 2 graduate and 9 undergraduate students to receive research training and experience in stem cell labs at University of California Riverside, Loma Linda University, Beckman Research Institute, Children’s Hospital Orange County, University of Southern California.and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The grant has also enabled CSUSB-Biology Department to offer a variety of courses ( Stem Cell Biology, Animal Tissue Culture , Stem Cells and Society) that have educated more than 200 students in both the science and the ethics aspects of stem cell biology.
The students who are part of the fourth year cohort are still either finishing their undergraduate or masters degrees so we do not have final outcomes for them. For the third year cohort we have a number of students who are in graduate programs, working as research techs or are in professional schools.
The success of the training program, in a geographic area that has profound financial challenges and limited opportunities for our students, we see this program as a definite watershed.