Strong Interest For CIRM New Faculty Awards: $85 Million Available to Support Promising Scientists

SAN FRANCISCO, August 10, 2007 The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) announced today that it received 59 letters of intent from researchers at 29 institutions for its New Faculty Awards. As many as 25 grants totaling $85 million are expected to be approved by the CIRM governing board in December 2007.

  New Faculty Awards will fund the research of promising M.D. and Ph.D. scientists in their early years as independent lead investigators and faculty members. They are intended to develop a new generation of clinical and scientific leaders in stem cell research.

  While previous CIRM research grants focused on human embryonic stem cell research, the New Faculty Awards will support research across the full range of stem cell types human and animal, adult and embryonic.

  The grants are open to California non-profit and academic research institutions. Those with medical schools were eligible to nominate up to four candidates, while those without could nominate two.

  Full applications for the New Faculty Awards are due August 30, 2007.

About CIRM
Governed by the ICOC, the CIRM was established in 2004 with the passage of Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. The statewide ballot measure, which provided $3 billion in funding for stem cell research at California universities and research institutions, was approved by California voters, and called for the establishment of an entity to make grants and provide loans for stem cell research, research facilities, and other vital research opportunities. The CIRM is the largest source of funding for human embryonic stem cell research in the world. To date, grants totaling more than $208.5 million have been approved by the ICOC. For more information, please visit www.cirm.ca.gov.

 

Contact:  Dale A. Carlson
                 415/396-9117