Campus Vies For Stem Cell Funding From Proposition

With $3 billion in funding for stem cell research available after California voters passed Proposition 71 last week, research institutions-including UC Berkeley-are already scrambling for a share of the funds.

Proposition 71 will provide $3 billion in state grants and loans for stem cell research, dwarfing the $180 million in federal funding spent in 2002 for stem cell research nationwide.

With a leg up in stem cell research, the campus could develop innovative cures for chronic diseases, which would attract outstanding faculty and students and contribute to the industrial strength of the state, said professor Randy Schekman, UC Berkeley's representative on the university-wide Proposition 71 planning committee.

Schekman and 16 UC Berkeley researchers convened Wednesday to come up with attractive proposals in an attempt to get a portion of the funds from the state. They discussed different science programs UC Berkeley could develop that could justify applying for the funds, such as programs for basic cellular and development biology and tissue engineering.

But since UC Berkeley does not have a medical school, the university starts off "at a slight disadvantage," Schekman said.

However, several UC Berkeley professors are interested in stem cell research and its potential to cure chronic diseases, he said, even without a state-of-the-art medical school.

Some UC Berkeley researchers have already experimented with adult stem cells and mouse embryonic stem cells.

But none have conducted human embryonic stem cell research, which has sparked heated debate surrounding the ethics of destroying embryos for research.

Because the federal government holds restrictions for embryonic stem cell research funding, Proposition 71 funds must be kept separate from federal funds and new laboratory space and equipment at UC Berkeley will be needed for the proposition-funded research, Schekman said.

In the planning committee meeting Wednesday, researchers explored the possibility of using space in Stanley Hall, which will house the center of the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research when it is completed in 2006, he said.

But since professors want to get a jump on the research as soon as possible, other lab space on campus is also being considered, Schekman said.

"The proposition requires a monumental effort right from the starting gate," Schekman said.

The first round of funds will be available in about five months, which Schekman said is "enormously fast-track." Federal funding for stem cell research usually takes around nine months, he said.

"A funding mechanism with a thorough review process has to be established very quickly," he said.

A committee governing the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which will distribute the funds, will determine UC Berkeley's fate in the stem cell research field.

The 29-member committee will include representatives from UC medical schools, other universities, biotechnology firms and disease advocacy groups.

UC Berkeley will secure at least one seat on the committee, said Garin Casaleggio, spokesperson for the state controller's office.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and State Controller Steve Westly will help decide who will be on the committee, which will be finalized within the next month.

Westly appointed the first committee member, Philip Pizzo, dean of Stanford School of Medicine, last week.

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