Cal. institute gives first stem-cell grant

SAN FRANCISCO, April 12 (UPI) -- A California body established by state voters to fund stem-cell research has awarded its first $12.1 million in grants.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine announced this week it will give the money to 16 of the state's non-profit institutions to train 169 future stem-cell researchers in pre- and post-doctoral and clinical programs.

In November 2004 California voters passed Proposition 71 establishing the institute and authorizing it to raise funds by selling bonds. A lawsuit is expected to prevent the sale of the bonds at least through 2007, so last week the institute's finance board authorized the sale of up to $200 million in bond anticipation notes.

The funds disbursed are financed by the sale of $14 million worth of the notes to six private foundations.

The institutions receiving the grants are the Burnham Institute; the California Institute of Technology; Children's Hospital Los Angeles; the Scripps Research Institute; Stanford University; The J. Gladstone Institutes; the Salk Institute for Biological Studies; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Davis; the University of California, Irvine; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, San Diego; the University of California, San Francisco; the University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of California, Santa Cruz; and the University of Southern California.