UCSF receives funding for building from California stem c...(scientists in their quest to understand ...),Health

In 1999, UCSF was the first U.S. university to carry out somatic cell nuclear transfer, which also is known as therapeutic cloning, and in 2001, was the second, after the University of Wisconsin, to derive human embryonic stem cells. Because scientists were prohibited from conducting these studies in federally funded buildings, UCSF scientists were forced to carry out their research in challenging circumstances -- first in segregated space within an existing UCSF lab, later in rented space at an off-campus site and subsequently 40 miles away at Geron Corp., through a joint project.

More recently, through a combination of private donations, university funds and CIRM grants, UCSF has been able to create space to bring the research back onto its campus. But the planned construction of a building drives the enterprise to a new level.

The building, which will be located on the Parnassus Campus, will house 25 principal investigators and their teams at full capacity. It will be the headquarters of the UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine, which will continue to include scientists across all UCSF campuses. The relocation of scientists into the building will free up space in existing laboratories/offices that will allow for additional recruitments. UCSF has recruited 16 new faculty members to the Institute in the last three years.

The building is designed to drive the cross-pollination of scientific ideas to a new level, says Arnold Kriegstein, MD, PhD, director of the Institute. Scientists trying to produce insulin-producing beta cells that could be used to treat diabetes will be based near those trying to develop the brains nerve cells, because stem cells undergo nearly identical molecular signaling on the path to becoming both cell
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