UCI awarded $27.2 million for new stem cel...( Irvine Calif. May 7 2008 UC Irvine...)

Irvine, Calif., May 7, 2008 UC Irvine was awarded $27.2 million today from the state to build a new stem cell research facility that will unify and strengthen the campuss fast-growing stem cell biology program and serve as a hub for research in Southern California.

When completed, the three-story, 61,600-square-foot building will house the UCI Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, as many as 26 laboratory-based and clinical researchers, a stem cell techniques course for young scientists, a masters program in biotechnology with an emphasis on stem cell research, and an array of programs and activities that involve and educate patients and the general public.

The new building will be the center of all stem cell activity on campus, said Peter Donovan, co-director of UCIs stem cell center. With a central location, our basic, preclinical and clinical researchers can better work together, share ideas, and take potential therapies from the laboratory to the clinic.

In all, the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, which governs the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, awarded $271 million in stem cell research infrastructure funding to 12 institutions statewide. This award brings total CIRM funding to UCI to $46.8 million.

Pending final University of California Board of Regents approval, construction is scheduled to begin in September and finish in July 2010. The facility will be modeled after the existing Hewitt Hall and located within the heart of UCIs Biomedical Research Center in the Health Sciences complex.

The new building will include the core stem cell laboratory and state-of-the-art equipment for human embryonic stem cell line derivation, cell culture, differentiation and purification, and cell and tissue imaging. It also will include clinical space with resources to see patients.

We expect the building will serve not only UCI, but also our regional partners as well as visitors
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