Three UCLA Stem Cell Scientists Awarded $49.2 Million in Grants to Fund Translational

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Three UCLA Stem Cell Scientists Awarded $49.2 Million in Grants to Fund Translational Research

Grants will Fund Research for New Therapies for Sickle Cell Disease, HIV/AIDS and Cancer

By guest 417 | October 28, 2009



Three scientists with the Broad Stem Cell Research Center at UCLA were awarded grants today totaling $49.2 million to take leading-edge stem cell science from the laboratory and translate it into new therapies for such devastating diseases as sickle cell, HIV/AIDS and brain, ovarian and colorectal cancers.

In all, 14 disease team grants totaling more than $250 million were awarded today by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state’s stem cell agency. In all, scientists with the UCLA stem cell center have been awarded nearly $122 million in state funding since 2005 for human pluripotent and adult stem cell research.

The four-year grants are part of CIRM’s Disease Team Initiative, which seeks to explore new ways of integrating and organizing the highest quality basic, translational and clinical research with the aim of developing new therapies and diagnostic tools. As part of the approval process, disease teams must submit an investigational new drug application to the Food & Drug Administration within four years, fast-tracking stem cell-related drug development.

The UCLA disease teams include collaborations with other prominent stem cell institutions, industry and, in the case of the cancer disease team grant, a partnership with a Canadian research consortium. The Canadian government is matching the CIRM grant, bringing the total for the UCLA/Canada cancer disease team research project to nearly $40 million.

'As one of the world’s top research institutions, UCLA has long been a leader in translational research, taking the best laboratory science from the bench to the bedside to provide novel, more effective therapies that benefit the people of the world,' said Chancellor Gene Block. 'The fact that UCLA received three disease team grants today is a clear acknowledgement that UCLA is a leader in the field and will provide much needed new therapies for sickle cell disease, HIV/AIDS and brain, colorectal and ovarian cancers.'

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