UCSF receives funding for building from California stem cell agency

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UCSF receives funding for building from California stem cell agency

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/uoc--urf050708.php

Signifying a milestone in the evolution of its pioneering stem cell

program, the University of California, San Francisco today received a

$34.9 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative

Medicine to help support the construction of a regenerative medicine

building on its campus.

The $119 million building, designed by renowned New York architect

Viñoly, was approved by the UC Regents in March, contingent on

UCSF receiving a portion of funding from CIRM. The remainder of funds

is being raised from philanthropic donations. Ray and Dagmar Dolby

donated $16 million to launch a fund raising campaign for the

building in 2006. Other gifts are in development.

The building – which was praised in the CIRM evaluation as " a

breathtaking building that exudes collaboration and interaction " – is

a series of split-level floors with terraced grass roofs and solar

orientation. Open labs flow into each other, with office/interaction

areas located on the circulation route between the labs, allowing,

the evaluation concluded, " for the entire research community in the

building [to] interact. "

The facility is one of 12 planned facilities awarded funds by CIRM's

governing board, under a competitive, two-stage application process

that began last August with 17 facility applications. The process was

administered by the CIRM Scientific and Medical Facilities Working

Group (FWG), which evaluated the buildings on their scientific merit

and technical value. The FWG announced their evaluations in April.

UCSF's building tied for the highest score. Acting on the FWG's

recommendations, the board today voted to issue $271 million in funds

to the selected buildings.

The opportunity to construct the UCSF building signals a turning

point in the history not only of UCSF's program, but in the field

overall, says UCSF Chancellor J. Bishop. " The CIRM funding

will allow universities throughout California to establish the

infrastructure to support scientists in their quest to understand the

basic biology of stem cells and other early stage cells, with the

goal of turning these discoveries into therapies. This is an

unprecedented opportunity. "

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 brain's nerve cells, because stem cells undergo

nearly identical molecular signaling on the path to becoming both

cell types. "

At the same time, scientists studying specific signaling molecules,

as opposed to particular diseases, will be strategically based, in

some cases, next to scientists who are studying particular diseases.

Those studying the molecule sonic hedgehog, which is involved in the

specialization of neural stem cells, for instance, will be located

near scientists interested in treating brain diseases.

" It presents a wonderful opportunity for us to make headway, " says

Kriegstein, a neurologist who treats patients with brain diseases,

such as Parkinson's disease, but is also seeking novel stem cell-

based therapies for these illnesses.

The building will be located near UCSF Medical Center, which will

support the long-term goal of translating basic research findings to

clinical trials, he says. " Being near existing clinical services will

be a great benefit. "

As stipulated by the CIRM grant, groundbreaking for the building,

which has 46,283 assignable square feet and has four split-level

floors, is scheduled for mid 2008, with completion of the project in

mid 2010.

The major facilities grants are the fifth round of funding issued by

CIRM since 2006. UCSF has been a top recipient of these previous

grants, which are supporting the training of the next generation of

stem cell scientists, research studies and smaller scale facilities

projects.

This latest round of funding, says Kriegstein, will drive the

capacity for the research to a new level.