UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center receives $5 million CIRM grant for research training program

TheEli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLAhas been awarded $5 million by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state ’s stem cell agency, to train young scientists and physicians to become leaders in the stem cell and regenerative medicine field.The five-year grant will enable the center to expand its Stem Cell Training Program, which was established in 2006 and funded by CIRM until 2015, when the agency changed its funding priorities. Since then, the program has been sustained by philanthropy. With the passage of Proposition 14 last fall, however, CIRM has once again made funding these programs one of its top initiatives.CIRM lauded UCLA ’s program for its “impressive outcomes,” highlighting the many trainees who move on to academic positions and senior roles in biotechnology.“This is a very strong program at an excellent campus, with a renowned research environment,” the agency’s grant reviewers wrote.Roughly adozen UCLA graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and early-career physician-scientists are selected annually for the yearlong program, in which they conduct stem cell research alongside top faculty members with the goal of accelerating the development and delivery of new treatments to patients. Participants have the opportunity train with experts in cell and molecular biology, gene medicine, cell-based therapy and organ transplantation.“In addition to learning the latest techniques in the ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news