California’s Stem Cell Agency approves new plan to invest $110M into basic research in neuropsychiatric diseases
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Koren Temple-Perry
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South San Francisco, CA – The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the world’s largest institute dedicated to regenerative medicine, announced its approval of a new program called ReMIND at the September Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC) meeting that will eventually award up to $110 million to advance basic research in neuropsychiatric diseases—one of the largest investments of its kind in California.
ReMIND ( Research using Multidisciplinary, Innovative Approaches in Neuro Diseases) is a new program designed to accelerate research innovations that would improve the understanding of the biology of neuropsychiatric diseases using stem cell or genetic research as its primary approach. The program includes two distinct and separate funding opportunities: the first, ReMIND-L supports large collaborative multidisciplinary projects, and the second, ReMIND-X supports exploratory, high risk, high reward projects. The program will fund research at academic, non-profit, and for-profit organizations in California from 2024 to 2028.
ReMIND was primarily developed in view of Proposition 14, which dedicates at least $1.5 billion of CIRM’s $5.5 billion total bond funding to the support of research and development of treatments for diseases and conditions of the brain and central nervous system.
“Effective treatments for neuropsychiatric diseases remain a significant unmet medical need in California, the US and the World. The ReMIND program is part of a deliberate drive at CIRM to support multidisciplinary discovery research as a way to catalyze innovation, especially in areas of large potential impact,” said Dr. Rosa Canet-Aviles, VP of Scientific programs and Education at CIRM.
CIRM’s ReMIND program will help to advance basic research in this area to support this vital mission.
Collaborating to Address Unmet Needs in Neuropsychiatric Research
The ReMIND program was developed by CIRM’s scientific team in close collaboration with CIRM’s task force on neuroscience and medicine over the past year. This 13-member task force is composed of scientific experts and members of patient advocacy organizations and led by Dr. Larry Goldstein, Distinguished Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and of Neurosciences at the University of California San Diego.
The initial vision for the program was informed by discussions and workshops CIRM conducted with a wide range of scientific experts over the last three years. These discussions emphasized the need to incentivize multi disciplinary scientific collaborations and sharing of knowledge and resources across the scientific community.
While CIRM has funded neuroscience discovery research in the past, this is the largest investment CIRM has made to date with a focused, multidisciplinary and coordinated approach. The scale of the investment has two main components: first, funding to support advanced stem cell models and genomic technologies, which are being brought to the study of neuropsychiatric disorders and second, the scale of the investment is commensurate with the larger size of the collaborative research teams. CIRM hopes that by investing in multidisciplinary teams rather than individual investigators, this program will help unlock innovation in the study of neuropsychiatric disorders.
More details will be available in the ReMIND-L Request for Applications, expected to be posted in October. Applications are expected to be available by the end of November and applicants will have until March to submit their applications. To keep up to date with CIRM’s funding opportunities, sign up for notifications here. For more information on the ReMIND program, reach out at discovery@cirm.ca.gov.
About the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)
At CIRM, we never forget that we were created by the people of California to accelerate stem cell treatments to patients with unmet medical needs, and act with a sense of urgency to succeed in that mission. To meet this challenge, our team of highly trained and experienced professionals actively partners with both academia and industry in a hands-on, entrepreneurial environment to fast track the development of today’s most promising stem cell technologies. With $5.5 billion in funding and more than 150 active stem cell programs in our portfolio, CIRM is one of the world’s largest institutions dedicated to helping people by bringing the future of cellular medicine closer to reality.
For more information go to www.cirm.ca.gov.