The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine – CIRM, recently announced the Approval by the California Stem Cell Board. The CA Board Approves Terms for Grants to For-Profit Research Entities. ‘The Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC), governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), today approved terms and conditions for grants to for-profit entities engaged in stem cell research. The unanimous decision came at the ICOC’s meeting at the University of California, Irvine.

The groundbreaking policy was developed by the ICOC Intellectual Property Task Force, and follows a similar policy for non-profit institutes adopted in February. It guarantees that the State of California will realize a tiered-return on CIRM stem cell research grants to for-profit entities whenever a commercial, CIRM-funded project generates $500,000 in revenue. The state’s financial participation will rise with a project’s success, and will include royalty payments for any initiative that achieves “blockbuster” status of $500 million in annual revenue. No other California or federal agency funding biomedical research sets similar terms and conditions for grants.’

Thanks to Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, and the $3 billion in funding it provides for stem cell research, this is one step closer to the realization of what stem cell research may produce for our future.

I really like the idea of this site, www.tellmeaboutstemcells.org, as a way to educate the public about stem cells. From the press release, ‘JWT in collaboration with scientists from MIT, Whitehead Institute and other leading institutions today announced the launch of a website, http://www.tellmeaboutstemcells.org, created as a pro-bono effort to educate the public about stem cell research.’

The site discusses,

• Stem Cell Basics
• The Impact of Stem Cells
• Questions and Answers
• Political Viewpoints
• Getting Involved in Stem Cell Research

‘The site is the result of an initiative to create a national education campaign combining JWT’s market research and design with scientific content from the top minds in the field of stem cell research. The site is designed purely as an educational site, with no political, religious or corporate perspective put forth.

JWT’s market research shows that, while stem cell research is a controversial topic in the political, religious and economic realms, the American population knows very little about the subject itself. According to JWT’s market research:

- Less than half of Americans (46%) feel knowledgeable about the subject.
- Fewer (35%) have an accurate understanding of what the applications of
stem cell research are or even what a stem cell is.
- In this environment, 75% of Americans expressed a desire to know
and 29% are undecided on the topic.’

Expressing views of stem cells in an unbiased manner is a refreshing change.