USC breaks ground on stem call research center

September 4, 2008

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The university is the first of 12 institutions in the state to begin

work on such a facility, funded as a result of Proposition 71. The

state money supplements a donation by Eli and Edythe Broad.

By Francisco Vara-Orta, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

USC on Wednesday became the first of 12 institutions in the state to

break ground on a taxpayer-funded facility for stem cell research.

This " is a very important step in a mission set by the voters of

California to place the state at the forefront of stem cell

research, " said Carmen A. Puliafito, dean of the Keck School of

Medicine of USC.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM, awarded

USC nearly $27 million for the new facility.

The CIRM, established because voters passed Proposition 71 in 2004 to

borrow and spend $3 billion over 10 years to support stem cell

research, awards funds to educational institutions for such activity.

The institute's award supplemented a $30-million gift made in 2006 by

the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, said Meghan Lewit, an institute

spokeswoman. The remaining funds for the $80-million project will be

raised through individuals and private foundations, and officials

hope to open the center in 2010.

Once completed, the five-story, 80,000-square-foot Broad CIRM Center

will house basic and clinical researchers working on stem cell

research for the treatment of a wide spectrum of diseases, Lewit said.

Researchers will be trying to determine whether certain cells are

predisposed to becoming cancerous; working to identify cells capable

of reversing damage from eye diseases, cardiovascular disease and

liver disease; developing new drugs that can accelerate tissue repair

or stop cancer stem cells from growing; and investigating the

possibility of making stem cells from adult tissue with all the

capabilities of embryonic stem cells.

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